Hiawatha's 2025 water quality report publishes a 90th-percentile copper result of 1.1 ppm, with sampled taps ranging from 0.01 to 1.5 ppm and two samples above the 1.3 ppm action level. No violation is listed. Here is what an action level is, why it is not an MCL, and why copper varies house to house.
The numbers below are the ones printed in the city's 2025 report. Nothing here is our estimate. One detail worth knowing up front: the copper figures in that report come from the most recent round of tap sampling it publishes, collected in 2023, not from a fresh 2025 sampling round.
| Line item | What the 2025 report lists |
|---|---|
| Sampling behind the copper numbers | The most recent tap sampling the report publishes, collected in 2023 |
| 90th-percentile copper result | 1.1 ppm |
| Range across sampled taps | 0.01 – 1.5 ppm |
| Samples above 1.3 ppm | 2 |
| Federal benchmark | Action level of 1.3 ppm — a treatment-technique trigger, not an MCL |
| Violation listed | None |
| Source named for copper | Corrosion of household plumbing systems |
| Corrosion control at the plant | Poly-orthophosphate, per the same report |
For context, and only for context: Hiawatha draws from five deep wells, 350 to 530 feet into the Silurian aquifer, and the plant runs iron removal, fluoride adjustment, poly-orthophosphate and chlorine — but no softening, which is why the same report publishes hardness at 14 to 20 grains per gallon. The hardness side of that story lives on our Hiawatha water treatment page. This page is about the copper line.
Most contaminants in a water quality report are measured against a maximum contaminant level, or MCL — an enforceable ceiling on how much of something the utility may deliver. Nitrate is the familiar example: EPA sets the MCL at 10 ppm, and Hiawatha's 2025 report lists a single nitrate sample at 4.6 ppm, comfortably under it. If a utility goes over an MCL, that is a violation.
Copper does not work that way. Under EPA's Lead and Copper Rule, copper is regulated by a treatment technique rather than an MCL, and EPA's summary of the rule says the technique "requires systems to monitor drinking water at customer taps." EPA's table of national primary drinking water regulations lists copper not with an MCL figure but as "TT; Action Level=1.3."
The trigger is a statistic, not any one faucet. In EPA's words, an exceedance happens if "copper concentrations exceed an action level of 1.3 ppm in more than 10% of customer taps sampled," at which point "the system must undertake a number of additional actions to control corrosion." That 10% cutoff is why reports publish a 90th-percentile figure instead of a maximum.
Apply that to Hiawatha. Two taps came back above 1.3 ppm, and the highest reading was 1.5. But the 90th-percentile result — the number the rule is actually measured against — was 1.1 ppm, below the 1.3 action level, so the published sampling was not an action-level exceedance. That is why the report carries a violation-free copper line even though a couple of individual samples ran high. Both facts are true at once, and a page that printed only one of them would be the dishonest version.
EPA's regulations table names the sources of copper in drinking water as corrosion of household plumbing systems and erosion of natural deposits. Hiawatha's report names household plumbing too. That is the whole reason copper is sampled at customer taps rather than at the treatment plant: the copper in a glass of water is largely a story about the pipe it just traveled through, not about the aquifer 400 feet down.
So two homes on the same Hiawatha street can return very different numbers. The age of the plumbing, the fittings and solder in it, and how long water has been standing in the lines before the sample is drawn all move the result. A 0.01 ppm house and a 1.5 ppm house can be neighbors in the same report.
Credit where it belongs: the utility's lever here is corrosion control, and Hiawatha is pulling it. The 2025 report lists poly-orthophosphate as part of the treatment train, dosed for corrosion control. EPA describes this class of rule as a treatment technique "that requires systems to control the corrosiveness of their water" — that is the job, and it is worth knowing your utility already does it. If you want the wider picture of how Eastern Iowa utilities treat their supplies, we keep a plain-language rundown of city water in Eastern Iowa.
Start with your own tap, not with equipment. Because copper is a plumbing-driven result, the city's 90th percentile is not your number and neither is your neighbor's. A copper result that means anything comes from a state-certified laboratory running a sample from your own faucet, and the Hiawatha Water Department is the right first phone call for how sampling is handled in town.
Two honest caveats. Iowa's Private Well Grants program pays for county lab testing, but it is for private wells only — if you are on Hiawatha city water, you do not qualify for it. And our free in-home water test measures hardness, iron, chlorine and total dissolved solids; it does not measure copper. We would rather say that flatly than let anyone book a visit expecting a copper result.
On equipment, we will not make a claim we cannot back. We do not publish copper-reduction figures for our systems, and we are not going to start. What we can state plainly is what our systems are certified to: the NSF/ANSI standards, with NSF/ANSI 44 as the softener standard and NSF/ANSI 58 as the reverse osmosis standard, which requires at least 75% total dissolved solids reduction to certify. A water softener is sized against Hiawatha's published 14–20 grains of hardness, and a reverse osmosis system is a drinking-water system for the kitchen tap. Bring us a lab result and we will tell you honestly whether anything we sell is the right answer for it — including when the answer is that it isn't.
Every figure is all-in: equipment, installation by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule and stand behind, taxes, and a lifetime parts warranty. Media is covered for 5 years and labor for 1 year, and we are insured and bonded.
| System | All-in price |
|---|---|
| Softener only, no carbon filtration | $1,900 |
| Standard system, no RO | $2,500 |
| Standard system (softener + whole-home filtration + RO) | $2,850 |
| Reverse osmosis on its own — tank | $800 |
| Reverse osmosis on its own — tankless (Hiawatha is city water, so tankless is on the table) | $900 |
| Annual service plan — tank RO home / tankless RO home | $199 / $249 per year |
| Iron and sulfur equipment | Quoted after your free water test |
0% financing is available, military members and first responders take $100 off, and the price we quote does not expire. Most companies in this category publish no purchase price at all; we publish ours.
If the copper line in the 2025 report is what brought you here, the useful next step is a number from your own faucet rather than a purchase. For hardness, iron, chlorine and TDS, our in-home test is free, takes about 20 minutes, and you keep the numbers whether you buy anything or not. For copper specifically, ask us and we will point you toward certified lab testing instead of selling you something. If nitrate is the line that caught your eye instead, we cover that separately in nitrates in Iowa water.
Call or text 319-319-6566, email ryan@kindwaterco.com, or start with an instant quote. We are family-owned, founded in 2021 by Ryan Brunton, and headquartered right next door in Marion. Nearby, we also serve Cedar Rapids and Marion.
Yes, at levels the city publishes. Hiawatha's 2025 water quality report lists a 90th-percentile copper result of 1.1 ppm, a range of 0.01 to 1.5 ppm across sampled taps, and two samples above the 1.3 ppm action level, with no violation listed. Those figures come from the most recent tap sampling in the report, collected in 2023.
An MCL is an enforceable ceiling on a contaminant in the water a utility delivers, like EPA's 10 ppm nitrate limit. Copper has no MCL. EPA regulates it by treatment technique, with an action level of 1.3 ppm measured at customer taps. Per EPA, an exceedance occurs when more than 10% of sampled taps exceed that level.
No. Two individual samples came back above 1.3 ppm, with a high of 1.5, but the 90th-percentile figure the rule is measured against was 1.1 ppm. Because that governing figure sits below the action level, the published sampling is not an exceedance, and the 2025 report lists no violation for copper.
Because copper largely comes from the plumbing inside your own home. EPA and Hiawatha's report both name corrosion of household plumbing systems as a source, which is why samples are collected at customer taps rather than at the plant. Plumbing age, fittings, solder and how long water has been standing all move the result house to house.
Not for copper. Our free in-home test covers hardness, iron, chlorine and total dissolved solids, and takes about 20 minutes. Copper needs a state-certified laboratory sample, and Iowa's free Private Well Grants testing applies only to private wells, not city customers. Ask us and we will point you toward certified lab testing rather than selling you equipment.
Whole-home water softening, filtration, and reverse-osmosis drinking water — professionally installed and built to last a lifetime.
Serving Marion, Cedar Rapids & surrounding Linn County communities
Kind Water Co is a d/b/a of Zero Cap Investments LLC · 2258 Bison St, Apt B, Marion, IA 52302
.webp)
