Shoal & Stem

Westwood, PA tap water

Part of Westwood is supplied by Pennsylvania American Water – Coatesville. Here's what its water means for your fish.

Disinfectant

Chloramine

Utility water here is treated with chloramine. Unlike chlorine, it doesn't gas off when water sits out, and many pitcher and fridge filters aren't rated to remove it. Conditioners that list chloramine on the label break it apart, which frees about 0.54 ppm of ammonia here. Some utilities switch to plain chlorine for a few weeks a year.

Safety for fish and shrimp

Ammonia (with conditioner)

Estimate

0.38–0.71 ppm (Worth knowing)

Typical 0.54 ppm

This is what a conditioner frees when it breaks the chloramine apart. A cycled filter clears it within a day; a big water change in a new or very small tank adds more of it at once. Some conditioners also bind ammonia for a day or so.

Estimated from the chloramine level Pennsylvania American Water – Coatesville reports (2012–2019).

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)

14 ppm (Worth knowing)

Water changes can't take your tank's nitrate below this level.

From EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).

Chlorine or chloramine at the tap

1.5–2.9 ppm

Typical 2.2 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.

From EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).

Water chemistry

General hardness

Not published yet

We haven't found this number yet. A drop test kit gives you your exact reading.

Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)

49 ppm

Moderate buffering. pH should stay fairly steady.

From EPA monitoring data, measured before treatment (2012–2019).

pH

Not published yet

We haven't found this number yet. A drop test kit gives you your exact reading.

  • Pennsylvania American Water – Coatesville adds phosphate to protect pipes. It can feed algae in tanks without much plant growth.

Who supplies Westwood, PA

  • Pennsylvania American Water – Coatesville

    Serves 30% of residents · Lake or river water · Chloramine

We couldn't fully map which utility serves Westwood. These numbers come from the utility we matched, which serves about 30% of residents.

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.

Also supplied by Pennsylvania American Water – Coatesville

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