TapMatch

Knoxville, Tennessee

KUB 2025 Water Quality Report. Tennessee River / Mark B. Whitaker plant. Additional-monitoring hardness 94 ppm. Chlorine maximum RAA 1.6 ppm (range 0.5–2.4). No Measure S-style residential softener ban turned up.

Cited chemistry for KnoxvilleA chart of numbers printed on the utility report, each labeled with its unit. Missing numbers are left off.Hardness94 ppmChlorine1.6 ppm RAA (range 0.5–2.4)TTHMs56 ppb max LRAA (range 20–79)HAA531 ppb max LRAA (range 10–40)WQR
Cited numbers from the utility report. Length follows the printed value against a labeled scale — not a health ranking. If the report has no number, it is not on the chart.
  1. Hardness94 ppm
  2. Chlorine1.6 ppm RAA (range 0.5–2.4)
  3. TTHMs56 ppb max LRAA (range 20–79)
  4. HAA531 ppb max LRAA (range 10–40)

Best match for Knoxville

Salt-based water softener

No district prohibition on a brine drain turned up in the current file.

Two tall mineral tanks and a black brine tank of a salt-based water softener, plumbed with copper pipe in a garage.
Salt-based softener: two mineral tanks and a brine tank.

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.

Shop salt-based softeners

Some links are affiliate links. If you buy through one, we may earn a commission. That does not change the match, and it is not a medical claim.

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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.

    Shop salt-free conditioners

  • 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.

    Shop whole-house carbon

  • 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.

    Shop water test kits

On the report

Water utility
Knoxville Utilities Board
Hardness
Hardness 94 ppm on the 2025 additional-monitoring table (average level detected). One printed additional-monitoring row, not two plant columns we blended. — Knoxville Utilities Board 2025 Water Quality Report
Disinfectant
Chlorine maximum running annual average 1.6 ppm (range 0.5–2.4), MRDL 4, MRDLG 4. Water additive used to control microbes. 2025 organic and disinfection-byproduct table. — Knoxville Utilities Board 2025 Water Quality Report
Brine / salt to the sewer
No district prohibition found in current research. Searched KUB and City of Knoxville 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
  • Other 2025 additional-monitoring numbersThe same additional-monitoring table prints these as average levels detected.Alkalinity 75 ppm. Calcium 26 ppm. Chloride 17 ppm. Sulfate 13 ppm. TDS 120 ppm. pH 7.3.2025 Water Quality Report — Knoxville Utilities Board

Knoxville drinking water is treated from the Tennessee River at the Mark B. Whitaker Water Treatment Plant and delivered by Knoxville Utilities Board. No KUB or City of Knoxville 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 Water Quality Report additional-monitoring table prints hardness 94 ppm. That is the printed average level detected, not a second plant column we invented.

Chlorine maximum running annual average 1.6 ppm (range 0.5–2.4). TTHMs maximum LRAA 56 ppb (individual site range 20–79). HAA5 maximum LRAA 31 ppb (range 10–40). Kitchen shopping stays the Cloud RO / Waterdrop path already used on other cities if a listing is why you are looking.

Sources

  1. 2025 Water Quality Report — Knoxville Utilities Board. Accessed 2026-09-09.

Updated September 9, 2026. A city file is chemistry we can cite plus the sewer rule. No invented detections.