I wonder if you could use lake water from a fresh water lake.
Yes, but I would boil it first, just to be safe. Probably not necessary. You could experiment. Maby even there is some benificial nutrients in there.

Or is there a way to get the colrie out of tap water.
Yes. Buy chlorine neutralizer at a pet store or hydro shop, or give your water as much surface area as possible and the chlorine will eventually evaporate. Not sure how long this takes.

I have a ph tester but I am not sure that will tell me if chlorine is in that water
A PH tester will not check for chlorine. A chlorine test kit will.

Any ideas would be helpful.
Expensive and it works: Reverse Osmosis (search)
Cheap and it works: Boil
I gather you are not using well water. If your water company cannot supply you with specifics about your water then they are not doing their job properly. Call them and ask (cheapest way of all to find out).

Well you want a P.H of about 7.0 isn't it?
Yes, that's a great PH level.... for your plants to die. You want 5.2 to 5.4. Some people say a little higher, but I spent a lot of time with various resources to come up with this number. Also since PH usually rises, it allows a little room for it to go up and not kill your plants.

just did a little test right out of the tap yikes came with a 8.5 I am going to let water from the tap sit a few days and then test it.
The PH in my water and my nutrients increases as it sits out. Sounds like you need: Chlorine test kit, chlorine nuetralizer (or possibly not), and PH down.