Albany Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Albany, California, in Alameda County — a small, densely populated Alameda County city adjacent to Berkeley and El Cerrito, a Bay Area urbanized community on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay — receives its municipal water from the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), which draws from the Mokelumne River through the Pardee Reservoir and the Mokelumne Aqueduct system in Amador and Calaveras Counties, distributing to the entire EBMUD service area.

The very soft 47 mg/L hardness and low TDS of 100.8 mg/L reflect the Mokelumne River's Sierra Nevada granitic watershed character. The Mokelumne River originates in the Eldorado National Forest high Sierra — terrain dominated by Jurassic-Cretaceous Sierra Nevada Batholith granodiorite, quartz monzonite, and Jurassic Amador County metavolcanic slate and schist. These massive granitic and metamorphic rocks contain essentially no carbonate minerals, producing very soft, naturally pure Sierra meltwater. EBMUD's Pardee-Camanche Reservoir system stores this soft Sierra water for the East Bay, maintaining the very soft character throughout the Albany-Berkeley-Oakland service area.

At 47 mg/L, Albany's water is very soft — excellent for household use. Scale forms very slowly, soap lathers richly, and appliances maintain excellent efficiency. Annual descaling is more than sufficient. The PFAS level of 3.4 ppt is low for the Bay Area — reflecting the Mokelumne's protected Sierra watershed character and limited direct military-industrial PFAS in the upper Mokelumne basin.