Pico Rivera, CA tap water
Supplied mostly by Pico WD, 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 (2018).
Nitrate (NO₃)
Up to 13 ppm (Low)
Typical 1.5 ppm
Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
From California Water Board lab results; Metropolitan Water Dist. of So. Cal. and Whittier-City, Water Dept., which supplies Santa Fe Springs - City, Water Dept. (2012–2026).
Copper at home taps
Up to 0.32 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 0.18 ppm
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.
From California Water Board lab results (2023–2026).
Water chemistry
General hardness
82–332 ppm
Typical 250 ppm
Hard. Ideal for livebearers and African cichlids. Soft-water species may struggle to breed.
From California Water Board lab results, measured before treatment; Metropolitan Water Dist. of So. Cal. and Whittier-City, Water Dept., which supplies Santa Fe Springs - City, Water Dept. (2023–2026).
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
60–200 ppm
Typical 140 ppm
Strong buffering. pH stays steady and hard to lower without RO water.
From California Water Board lab results; Metropolitan Water Dist. of So. Cal. and Whittier-City, Water Dept., which supplies Santa Fe Springs - City, Water Dept. (2023–2026).
pH
6.5–7.8
Typical 7.5
Most community fish do well here. Stable water matters more than the exact number.
From EPA monitoring data; California Water Board lab results, measured before treatment (2015–2026).
Total dissolved solids
200–666 ppm
Typical 350 ppm
A rough measure of everything dissolved in the water. RO water reads near 0, so TDS is a quick way to compare waters.
From California Water Board lab results; Metropolitan Water Dist. of So. Cal. and Whittier-City, Water Dept., which supplies Santa Fe Springs - City, Water Dept. (2023–2026).
Who supplies Pico Rivera, CA
Pico WD
Serves 40% of residents · Groundwater (wells) · Chlorine
Pico Rivera - City, Water Dept.
Serves 31% of residents · Groundwater (wells) · Chlorine
Santa Fe Springs - City, Water Dept.
Serves 6% of residents · Buys water from Metropolitan Water Dist. of So. Cal. · 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.
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.