South Lake Tahoe, CA tap water
Supplied by South Tahoe Public Utility District. Here's what its 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 California Water Board lab results (2025).
Nitrate (NO₃)
0.1–2.2 ppm (Low)
Typical 0.8 ppm
Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
Published by your utility: South Tahoe Public Utility District's 2025 water quality report.
Copper at home taps (first draw)
0.61–1.2 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: South Tahoe Public Utility District's 2025 water quality report.
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
0.5 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: South Tahoe Public Utility District's 2025 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
25–79 ppm
Typical 47 ppm
Soft. Good for tetras, rasboras and most shrimp. Livebearers, snails and African cichlids prefer harder water.
Published by your utility: South Tahoe Public Utility District's 2025 water quality report.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
46–67 ppm
Typical 55 ppm
Moderate buffering. pH should stay fairly steady.
Published by your utility: South Tahoe Public Utility District's 2025 water quality report.
pH
7.7–8.9
Typical 8.3
Alkaline. Many utilities raise pH to protect pipes. Stability matters more than the exact number.
From California Water Board lab results (2023–2026).
Total dissolved solids
83–211 ppm
Typical 101 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: South Tahoe Public Utility District's 2025 water quality report.
Who supplies South Lake Tahoe, CA
- 2025 water quality report
South Tahoe Public Utility District
Serves 92% 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.