Nashville, TN tap water
Supplied mostly by Nashville Metro Water Service, plus 2 other utilities. Here's what the water means for your fish.
Disinfectant
Chlorine or chloramine
Utilities here use chlorine or chloramine, depending on which one serves your address. Chlorine slowly gases off from standing water; chloramine doesn't.
Safety for fish and shrimp
Nitrite (NO₂)
Not detected (Low)
Not detected in testing, so any nitrite in your tank comes from the tank itself.
From EPA monitoring data (2014–2019).
Nitrate (NO₃)
1.5–1.7 ppm (Low)
Typical 1.6 ppm
Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
From Nashville Metro Water Service's 2025 water quality report; EPA monitoring data (2014–2025).
Copper at home taps (first draw)
Not detected (Low)
The 90th percentile of first-draw samples from homes: water that sat in household pipes for at least six hours.
Not detected in testing. Water that sits in household pipes overnight can still pick some up.
Published by your utility: Nashville Metro Water Service's 2025 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
64–93 ppm
Typical 75 ppm
Moderately soft to medium. Suits most community fish and plants.
Published by your utility: Nashville Metro Water Service's 2025 water quality report.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
54–88 ppm
Typical 65 ppm
Moderate buffering. pH should stay fairly steady.
Published by your utility: Nashville Metro Water Service's 2025 water quality report.
pH
7–7.7
Typical 7.2
Most community fish do well here. Stable water matters more than the exact number.
From Nashville Metro Water Service's 2025 water quality report; EPA monitoring data (2014–2025).
Total dissolved solids
128–189 ppm
Typical 146 ppm
A rough measure of everything dissolved in the water. RO water reads near 0, so TDS is a quick way to compare waters.
Published by your utility: Nashville Metro Water Service's 2025 water quality report.
- Nashville Metro Water Service, Madison Suburban U.D. and Harpeth Valley U.D. add phosphate to protect pipes. It can feed algae in tanks without much plant growth.
Who supplies Nashville, TN
- 2025 water quality report
Nashville Metro Water Service
Serves 86% of residents · Lake or river water · Chloramine
Madison Suburban U.D.
Serves 7% of residents · Lake or river water · Chlorine
Harpeth Valley U.D.
Serves 6% of residents · Lake or river water · Chlorine
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.
Tap water lookup covers US cities only for now. Want to know why it matters? Read our story on tap water.
Compiled by Shoal & Stem from public records. Free to cite with a link.