Renton, WA tap water
Supplied mostly by City of Renton, plus 2 other utilities. 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 (2016–2019).
Nitrate (NO₃)
Up to 8.4 ppm (Low)
Typical 8.4 ppm
Water changes can't take your tank's nitrate below this level.
From City of Renton's 2024 water quality report; Seattle Public Utilities, which supplies Soos Creek Water and Sewer District; Seattle Public Utilities, which supplies King County Water District No. 90 (2012–2024).
Copper at home taps (first draw)
0.03–0.69 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 Renton's 2024 water quality report; King County Water District No. 90's 2025 water quality report (2024–2025).
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
0.2–1.6 ppm
Typical 0.9 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 Renton's 2024 water quality report; King County Water District No. 90's 2025 water quality report (2024–2025).
Water chemistry
General hardness
25–125 ppm
Typical 69 ppm
Soft. Good for tetras, rasboras and most shrimp. Livebearers, snails and African cichlids prefer harder water.
From City of Renton's 2024 water quality report; Seattle Public Utilities, which supplies Soos Creek Water and Sewer District; Seattle Public Utilities, which supplies King County Water District No. 90.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
Supplier's figure23 ppm
Little buffering. pH can drop quickly between water changes, especially with CO₂ or an older tank.
From the utility that supplies yours: Seattle Public Utilities, which supplies Soos Creek Water and Sewer District; Seattle Public Utilities, which supplies King County Water District No. 90.
pH
7.4–8.5
Typical 7.7
Most community fish do well here. Stable water matters more than the exact number.
From City of Renton's 2024 water quality report; Seattle Public Utilities, which supplies Soos Creek Water and Sewer District; Seattle Public Utilities, which supplies King County Water District No. 90.
Total dissolved solids
Supplier's figure36 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 the utility that supplies yours: Seattle Public Utilities, which supplies Soos Creek Water and Sewer District; Seattle Public Utilities, which supplies King County Water District No. 90.
Who supplies Renton, WA
- 2024 water quality report
City of Renton
Serves 64% of residents · Groundwater (wells) · Chlorine
- Water quality report
Soos Creek Water and Sewer District
Serves 21% of residents · Buys water from Seattle Public Utilities · Chlorine
- 2025 water quality report
King County Water District No. 90
Serves 8% of residents · Buys water from Seattle Public Utilities · 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.