Orchards, WA tap water
Supplied mostly by City of Vancouver, plus 1 other utility. Here's what the water means for your fish.
Disinfectant
Chlorine
Your water is treated with chlorine. It slowly gases off from standing water, and any water conditioner removes it.
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 (2012–2019).
Nitrate (NO₃)
Up to 21 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 21 ppm
High for tap water. Water changes can't take your tank's nitrate below this level.
From City of Vancouver's 2025 water quality report; EPA monitoring data (2012–2025).
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: City of Vancouver's 2025 water quality report.
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
0.4–1.3 ppm
Typical 0.8 ppm
At tap levels, chlorine and chloramine are toxic to fish, shrimp and the bacteria in a filter. Water conditioners are made for this range.
Published by your utility: City of Vancouver's 2025 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
55–130 ppm
Typical 93 ppm
Moderately soft to medium. Suits most community fish and plants.
Published by your utility: City of Vancouver's 2025 water quality report.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
62–122 ppm
Typical 88 ppm
Moderate buffering. pH should stay fairly steady.
From City of Vancouver's 2025 water quality report; EPA monitoring data (2012–2025).
pH
7.4–8.2
Typical 7.9
Most community fish do well here. Stable water matters more than the exact number.
From City of Vancouver's 2025 water quality report; EPA monitoring data (2012–2025).
Total dissolved solids
Area estimate45–500 ppm
Typical 161 ppm
A rough measure of everything dissolved in the water. RO water reads near 0, so TDS is a quick way to compare waters.
Area estimate from nearby wells: USGS well samples in your state (2000–2023).
Who supplies Orchards, WA
- 2025 water quality report
City of Vancouver
Serves 74% of residents · Groundwater (wells) · Chlorine
Clark Public Utilities
Serves 15% of residents · Groundwater (wells) · 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.