Chattanooga, Tennessee
Tennessee American Water Citico plant 2025 CCR (PWS TN0000107). Total hardness 76 ppm (range 61–90) / 4.4 grains (3.6–5.3). Chlorine 1.69 ppm (range 0.52–2.19). No Measure S-style residential softener ban turned up.
- Hardness76 ppm / 4.4 gpg (range 61–90)
- Chlorine1.69 ppm (range 0.52–2.19)
- TTHMs53 ppb highest LRAA (range 19.7–67)
- HAA528 ppb highest LRAA (range 8.9–43)
Best match for Chattanooga
Salt-based water softener
No district prohibition on a brine drain turned up in the current file.
A salt-based softener is the thing that actually removes hardness. Size it from your grains and how much water you use, not bathroom count. It needs a drain.
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Other options that still fit
Salt-free conditioner
A salt-free conditioner changes how scale sticks. It does not soften. Soap and spots stay closer to untreated. No brine line.
Whole-house carbon for chlorine
That is chlorine. A whole-house carbon filter with an NSF/ANSI 42 chlorine claim is the usual match. A softener will not take chlorine out.
Under-sink reverse osmosis
The under-sink RO we actually run is Cloud RO — NSF/ANSI 58, kitchen tap, not a whole-house tank. Check the exact listing if PFAS is why you are shopping. Shop Amazon first for under-sink RO, or buy Cloud direct. Waterdrop is a tankless option if you want that path. A certifier-listed pitcher is the cheap first step. Nobody is paying for a medical claim.
Shop under-sink reverse osmosisBuy Cloud RO directShop Waterdrop reverse osmosisShop PFAS-listed pitchers
Test the tap first
A homeowner kit is a start. It is not a state-certified lab. Use a certified lab when the decision is expensive.
On the report
- Hardness
- Total hardness as CaCO3 76 ppm average (range 61–90). Also printed as 4.4 grains per gallon (range 3.6–5.3). 2025 additional-parameters table, water leaving Citico. — Tennessee American Water 2025 Annual Water Quality Report (Citico)
- Disinfectant
- Chlorine 1.69 ppm highest quarterly RAA (range 0.52–2.19), MRDL 4. Water additive used to control microbes. 2025 distribution table. Narrative says chlorine disinfection. — Tennessee American Water 2025 Annual Water Quality Report (Citico)
- Brine / salt to the sewer
- No district prohibition found in current research. Searched Tennessee American Water and City of Chattanooga sewer pages and codes for a residential self-regenerating softener or brine-drain ban like LACSD Measure S. None turned up. Ask the sewer agency on the bill before you cut a brine drain.
Also around here
Extra context besides the utility report and the chart above — geology, an unregulated table, or a published study. Not a second set of printed tap numbers.
- MicroplasticsWHO’s 2019 review examined studies that found microplastic particles in treated tap and bottled water in many places. That is a published-occurrence finding, not a number from this city’s water-quality report, and we do not invent a particles-per-liter count for the tap.Microplastics in drinking-water — World Health Organization
- PFASEPA’s Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule required community systems this size to test 29 PFAS and lithium in 2023–2025. Open the UCMR 5 Data Finder for this PWS. This file does not invent a detection.Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Chattanooga drinking water is treated from the Tennessee River at the Citico Water Treatment Plant and delivered by Tennessee American Water (PWS TN0000107). No Tennessee American Water or City of Chattanooga residential softener ban like LACSD Measure S turned up. Ask the sewer agency on the bill before you cut a brine drain. This is not a legal opinion.
The 2025 additional-parameters table prints total hardness 76 ppm as CaCO3 (range 61–90), also 4.4 grains per gallon (range 3.6–5.3). One Citico finished-water row, not a second plant we invented.
Chlorine 1.69 ppm highest quarterly RAA (range 0.52–2.19). TTHMs 53 ppb (range 19.7–67). HAA5 28 ppb (range 8.9–43). Kitchen shopping stays the Cloud RO / Waterdrop path already used on other cities if a listing is why you are looking.
Sources
- 2025 Annual Water Quality Report (Citico) — Tennessee American Water. Accessed 2026-09-09.
Updated September 9, 2026. A city file is chemistry we can cite plus the sewer rule. No invented detections.