San Buenaventura (Ventura), CA tap water
Supplied mostly by Ventura Water Department, 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 California Water Board lab results (2023–2026).
Nitrate (NO₃)
Up to 18 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 10 ppm
Water changes can't take your tank's nitrate below this level.
From California Water Board lab results (2023–2026).
Copper at home taps
Up to 0.37 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 0.2 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
278–912 ppm
Typical 559 ppm
Hard. Ideal for livebearers and African cichlids. Soft-water species may struggle to breed.
From California Water Board lab results (2023–2026).
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
150–230 ppm
Typical 200 ppm
Strong buffering. pH stays steady and hard to lower without RO water.
From California Water Board lab results (2023–2026).
pH
7.3–7.7
Typical 7.6
Most community fish do well here. Stable water matters more than the exact number.
From California Water Board lab results (2023–2026).
Total dissolved solids
415–1987 ppm
Typical 1328 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 (2023–2026).
- Ventura Water Department softens its water at the plant, so it may be softer than the local groundwater.
Who supplies San Buenaventura (Ventura), CA
Ventura Water Department
Serves 50% of residents · Lake or river water · Chlorine
United Wtr Cons Dist
Serves 36% of residents · Groundwater fed by surface water · Chloramine
Casitas Municipal Water Dist
Serves 14% 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.