Kind Water Co runs a free in-home water test anywhere we serve in Eastern Iowa. It takes about ten minutes at your kitchen sink and gives you three numbers you can write down: hardness in grains per gallon, iron in ppm, and total dissolved solids. No obligation, and no discount that expires when we leave.
Three measurements, taken at your tap, in front of you. A number only means something next to a reference point, so here are ours.
| What we test | Unit | What it is measured against |
|---|---|---|
| Hardness | grains per gallon (gpg) | The USGS bands water as soft below 60 mg/L, moderately hard 61-120, hard 121-180, and very hard above 180. One grain per gallon equals 17.1 mg/L, so "very hard" starts around 10.5 gpg. |
| Iron | parts per million (ppm) | EPA's secondary standard for iron is 0.3 mg/L. EPA describes the secondary standards as non-enforceable guidelines for aesthetic issues such as staining and metallic taste, not health limits. Penn State guidance is that a softener on its own suits dissolved iron under about 5 ppm. |
| Total dissolved solids | parts per million (ppm) | TDS is the number reverse osmosis works on. NSF/ANSI 58 is the industry standard for reverse osmosis systems and requires at least 75% TDS reduction for a system to certify. NSF/ANSI 44 is the corresponding standard for softeners. |
Those three numbers are what should drive a purchase. If you want the context before we come out, we keep a hardness-by-city reference and a plain-English page on what TDS actually is.
We arrive, run the tap, test, and write the results on paper for you to keep. Ten minutes is typical. There is no presentation and nothing to sign. If you want a recommendation afterward, we will give you one and quote it from our published price list. If you would rather sit with the results for a month, that is a normal outcome.
Free means $0 — no fee, no deposit, no credit toward a purchase you have to make later. Any homeowner on city water or a private well can book one, renters included with the owner's go-ahead, and you do not have to be shopping for equipment.
Free also means the price we quote afterward does not expire. Our prices are published, with one exception we name below. They include equipment, installation by a licensed plumbing professional, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty, and they will be the same next month. The equipment we sell is certified to the NSF/ANSI standards. The $100 military and first-responder discount and 0% financing are standing terms, not something we dangle at the kitchen table.
The one limit is distance. Travel is free for the first 50 miles from Marion; beyond that we charge $1 per mile.
This is the part that costs us money. Several Eastern Iowa utilities already do the work. Iowa City's Water Division softens at the plant, from about 300 mg/L raw down to roughly 50 mg/L, near 3 gpg. Dubuque lime-softens to about 100 mg/L at its Eagle Point plant, and the city's own FAQ tells customers they do not need to soften the water further. North Liberty has run a reverse osmosis and nanofiltration plant since 2018, and the city advised residents to dial softeners down from 10 grains to 5-6 when it opened. In towns like those, the honest answer is often a drinking-water RO and nothing else — or no equipment at all. Where the water genuinely is hard, we will say that too, and a softener is the straightforward fix.
Our kitchen-sink test does not measure bacteria or nitrate, and those are the two the Iowa DNR recommends checking every year on a private well. Iowa's Private Well Grants program covers free certified-lab testing through your county environmental health office. Iowa State University Extension notes that nitrate is odorless and tasteless, and that roughly 230,000 Iowans get their water from private wells. Because it cannot be noticed at the tap, that annual lab test is how a well owner finds out. The CDC is clear that boiling does not remove chemical contaminants, and with nitrate boiling concentrates it.
We would rather you spend nothing with us and use the county program. Here is how to request the free county test, what the nitrate side involves, and what well equipment is for once you have your lab results in hand.
Call or text 319-319-6566, email ryan@kindwaterco.com, or start with our instant quote and we will schedule from there. Kind Water Co is family-owned, founded in 2021 by Ryan Brunton, based in Marion. Installations are performed by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule and stand behind.
Yes. It costs $0, there is no deposit, and it does not obligate you to buy anything. It is also not tied to a discount that disappears afterward — our prices are published and they do not expire. Travel is free for the first 50 miles from Marion, then $1 per mile beyond that.
It measures three things at your tap: hardness in grains per gallon, iron in ppm, and total dissolved solids. It does not measure bacteria, nitrate, arsenic, manganese, lead or PFAS. Those require a certified drinking-water lab, and for private wells that lab work is covered free through Iowa's Private Well Grants program.
Get the county test first. The Iowa DNR recommends testing private wells every year for coliform bacteria and nitrate, and Iowa's Private Well Grants program pays for that certified-lab work through your county environmental health office. Our test adds hardness, iron and TDS — the comfort side — and it works best alongside your lab results, not instead of them.
We say so and we leave. Several Eastern Iowa utilities already soften or run reverse osmosis at the plant, and in those towns plenty of homes need a drinking-water RO at most. You keep the written numbers either way, and you are welcome to call again in a few years to re-test.
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
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