# What's Your Tap Water TDS?



## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Saw this article, it's old I know
http://www.forbes.com/2008/04/14/water-cities-drinking-forbeslife-cx_avd_0414health.html (Yay I'm #4!)

Ofc there's a lot of parameters to good drinking water, but for tank purposes I thought it'd be interesting to see:

1) Where do you live (City)?
2) What's your tap TDS?

I'll start:

Miami, FL
130 TDS


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

Bothell, WA
TDS: 24


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Holy crap, 24 straight out of the tap!?

Is that safe for human consumption? I thought really low TDS water are "aggressive" and leach minerals out of your body.


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## In.a.Box (Dec 8, 2011)

Rhode island-providence
90 tds

2nd best tap water in the u.s


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## livingword26 (Oct 28, 2010)

Wichita Kansas, tap water, 410 ppm. Yes I just checked my tds meter with distilled water, 000.


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## Snowflake311 (Apr 20, 2011)

SL Tahoe 
It's 50 - 60. Pure snow run off for the most part..... mmm mmm good.


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## jkan0228 (Feb 6, 2011)

Tigard, Oregon 
TDS 12


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## Algae Beater (Jun 3, 2011)

Coquitlam (vancouver) BC, Canada

7 tds straight outta the tap. Its even lower in months with higher rainfall.


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

SF Bay Area
350 ppm


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## MrBrongher (Jan 27, 2012)

The Bronx, NYCFresh from the tap
TDS 42


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

I'm compiling a list of places I may move to based off this list


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

First maybe some consideration should be given to the report. Remember that it is written to sell magazines and that should open it up to all kinds of questions. Anybody who believes a report just because it is written is open to folly. 

It seems to relie on using small bits of information to arrive at false assumptions.

Quote "Higher turbidity levels may indicate higher levels of disease-causing microorganisms, such as viruses."

Had they wanted to give a balanced account, they should have stressed that high turbidity MAY indicate higher levels of bacteria, but that is IF the water is not treated. 
Yes, it is true that drinking from a muddy puddle will give more bacteria than drinking from a clear spring in many cases but don't we need to consider that the water is treated with chlorine or chloramines to kill that bacteria? 

Total turbidity is one of many small factors in water treatment but it is by far one of the lesser items for concern when rating water. 

This report is another example of selling information in a scary way rather than reporting the truth. But then who would buy a report that told them drinking untreated water from the Potomac River is more dangerous than drinking from a spring in the high Rockies?


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## Mark Fisher (Dec 29, 2011)

Rockport, Texas

274 ppm TDS (mostly Na, Cl, Ca, HCO3 and SO4).


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## Monster Fish (Mar 15, 2011)

Queens, NY
37 PPM TDS


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

Based on my R/O unit's TDS meter (not sure how accurate) it usually starts at about 270 and sometimes spikes as high 301 but its rare.


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## rrastro (Jun 14, 2012)

37 ppm
East Bay Area (EBMUD)
Your numbers will be skewed if folks are using TDS meter without auto temp compensation.


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

rrastro said:


> 37 ppm
> East Bay Area (EBMUD)
> Your numbers will be skewed if folks are using TDS meter without auto temp compensation.


Um, we are in the same water district, EBMUD. I'm using Hanna's TDS meter and my TDS comes pretty constantly at 350 ppm. How come we have such a big difference?


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## rrastro (Jun 14, 2012)

Where are you in the East Bay? 
If you look closely at some of the water reports issued by EBMUD you will see which reservoir your supply comes from. This accounts for some of the difference in TDS readings. Tracing it from the reservoir to your house means that it goes through two distinct sets of pipes: EBMUD's and the pipes in your house. Some sections of EBMUD supply pipes are still made from terracotta. As you might imagine, these pipes crack easily and while they may still supply water they can then begin to leach nutrients or contaminants from groundwater. 
Still following? I'm a bit of a water nerd and proud of the East Bay.
In your house the plumbing may be as much as 100 years old. Corroded residential pipes can contribute significantly to baseline TDS readings. Believe me, you do not want the stuff that corroded pipes add in your tanks.
Hanna makes great meters, IMHO. I have and use one for TDS. I prefer another manufacturer for pH. However, they still manufacture models that do not have ATC (auto temp comp). Without ATC your readings may not be accurate.


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## Zefrik (Oct 23, 2011)

Topeka Ks, 

460 TDS

I tend to use RODI because this water is terrible!


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Any Sacramento people?


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## livingword26 (Oct 28, 2010)

rrastro said:


> As you might imagine, these pipes crack easily and while they may still supply water they can then begin to leach nutrients or contaminants from groundwater.


I have heard this before. But I have a hard time grasping how anything can leach into a pipe with positive pressure?


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## TexasCichlid (Jul 12, 2011)

~1600ppm, varies between 1400 and 1700 it seems.


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## rrastro (Jun 14, 2012)

Osmotic pressure. The hypertonic and hypotonic solutions seek to become isotonic. Or, in other words, salty water and cleanish water combine to become slightly salty water. Terracotta, even when uncracked, can be a semipermeable membrane.
You're thinking that, with positive pressure, the water supply does not have a chance to mix with groundwater through an open crack. Suppose, though, that the groundwater is itself container in its own micro-reservoir. The positive pressure from the cracked pipe might not force this micro-reservoir to overflow, acting like a leak in the system. Instead, being newly bound by the micro-reservoir, the clean water in the pipe would leach out the salts (however slowly) down the tonic gradient until the salt content of the supply and the micro-reservoir are roughly equivalent.


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## rrastro (Jun 14, 2012)

TexasCichlid said:


> ~1600ppm, varies between 1400 and 1700 it seems.


That is insane! Well water?


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## dubels (Jun 14, 2012)

xenxes said:


> Any Sacramento people?


Sacramento 
55-60


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## Algae Beater (Jun 3, 2011)

livingword26 said:


> I have heard this before. But I have a hard time grasping how anything can leach into a pipe with positive pressure?



there are in fact areas in Vancouver where the water mains have dissolved away due to the acidity of vancouvers water. the earth surrounding the mains has lithified and carry the high pressure flow. these areas have higher TDS readings. Now our water is VERY weakly buffered with soda ash when it comes out of the sand filtration plants. Closed watersheds, high rainfall and Granitic reservoir basins make Vancouver's tap water among the world's best.


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## bpb (Mar 8, 2011)

College station Texas 
500-550 depending on the time of year. Ph 8.3.
And yes my blue rams and cardinals are fat and happy. 
Tap water goes into my fresh tanks 

Rodi goes into my reef. Oddly enough, my reef tank kh and ph want to drift downward over time but my fresh tanks are super stable.


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## livingword26 (Oct 28, 2010)

Doing a quick scan of the threads we have all started, which is not particularly scientific, the people who have the highest tsd, myself, bpb, TexasCichlid, have had the worst algae problems. I've been looking into an RO system, so I am looking at that kind of stuff.


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## bpb (Mar 8, 2011)

Interesting correlation. I have had my battles with algae in the past for sure. It is behind me for the most part though. I have an RODI filter but rarely use it in my planted tanks. I will do like 30% RODI 70% tap on my 75 gallon. Mainly just as an excuse to keep the RO membrane from sitting stagnant for too long. It's good to run them regularly. My 10 gallon hasnt had a water change in months. Just top offs. My 75 gallon gets a water change of about 40% every month or so. 

Most of my algae issues are behind me. I really do believe that given enough time, once your plants get the upper hand, they keep it. I don't dose anything or use co2. Just twice daily feelings and heavy plant load. My tanks are also very low light. Eventually when enough time passes, tanks tend to clear up. That has been my experience.


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## TexasCichlid (Jul 12, 2011)

rrastro said:


> That is insane! Well water?


City water. A lot of it is supplied via well fields. RO cuts it down to ~ 60 TDS.


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## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

Long Beach, CA 190ppm.


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## NeonRob (May 1, 2008)

Cincinnati, OH - 250ppm


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Wow a lot of the cities surprise me, like Queens/Bronx/NYC - 30ish!?



dubels said:


> Sacramento
> 55-60


Cheers! I'm moving that way in a couple years


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## hingedthinker (Aug 4, 2012)

Phoenix -- 350-450 depending on the time of the year as read from my spectropure RO/DI system TDS meters. It only takes about 30 seconds w/backwash to get to 0 TDS on output.


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## The Big Buddha (Jul 30, 2012)

I'm on a well and it is 900 ppm. Blech! (That's why I don't drink or consume my well water.)


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## malady (Apr 6, 2012)

orlando 234 tds


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## kezg (Jul 26, 2011)

230 ppm

Goodna, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia.

350 ppm out of the hot tap.


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## Eldachleich (Jul 9, 2011)

Mission Viejo CA
700


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## In2wishin (Aug 10, 2011)

Waukesha, Wisconsin - 490


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## nameless? (May 28, 2011)

200ppm
London Canada
Would likely be less if they didn't bump the ph from 6.9 to 8.2 using sodium hydroxide


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

TDS: 165

Greenwich, Connecticut.


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## Drift Monkey (Mar 26, 2012)

Austin, TX

TDS: 174ppm


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## shinycard255 (Sep 15, 2011)

Romeoville, IL
396 TDS


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## CLAndrews (Aug 13, 2012)

Browns Valley, CA.
473 ppm (well)


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## caique (Mar 16, 2012)

Anyone in Santa Clara Calif.


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## laqu (Oct 17, 2012)

western morris county NJ (well water with carbon filter - needs changing) 110 TDS


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## bbergeron (Feb 13, 2013)

Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada: 160ppm


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