McKinney, TX tap water
Supplied by City of McKinney. Here's what its water means for your fish.
Disinfectant
Chloramine
Your water is treated with chloramine. Unlike chlorine, it doesn't gas off when water sits out, and many pitcher and fridge filters aren't rated to remove it. Conditioners that list chloramine on the label break it apart, which frees a little ammonia. Some utilities switch to plain chlorine for a few weeks a year.
Safety for fish and shrimp
Nitrate (NO₃)
0.3–1.8 ppm (Low)
Typical 1 ppm
Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
Published by your utility: City of McKinney's 2025 water quality report.
Copper at home taps (first draw)
0.02–0.94 ppm (High)
The 90th percentile of first-draw samples from homes: water that sat in household pipes for at least six hours.
Shrimp and snails are sensitive to copper. Water that sits in household pipes picks up the most; it drops once the tap has run for a minute.
Published by your utility: City of McKinney's 2025 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
133–134 ppm
Typical 133 ppm
Moderately soft to medium. Suits most community fish and plants.
Published by your utility: City of McKinney's website.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
75–89 ppm
Typical 84 ppm
Moderate buffering. pH should stay fairly steady.
From EPA monitoring data (2014–2018).
pH
7.4–8.2
Typical 7.5
Most community fish do well here. Stable water matters more than the exact number.
From EPA monitoring data (2014–2018).
- City of McKinney softens its water at the plant, so it may be softer than the local groundwater.
Who supplies McKinney, TX
- 2025 water quality report
City of McKinney
Serves 92% of residents · Buys water from North Texas MWD Wylie WTP · Chloramine
Our data comes from public records and is still incomplete. Many utilities don't publish every number, so we're adding more all the time. Your city's range is a starting point: testing your own tap is the only way to know exactly what's in it.
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Compiled by Shoal & Stem from public records. Free to cite with a link.