Nitrate in Epworth, Iowa Water

Epworth's 2025 water quality report lists nitrate at up to 8.3 ppm, in a range of 5.4 to 8.3, at finished-water tap #3, measured against the EPA's maximum contaminant level of 10 ppm for nitrate as nitrogen. The city recorded no violation. The range is the number worth reading, because it shows the result moved during the year.

Epworth's nitrate reading, 8.3 ppm, in context

Two figures sit side by side in the city's report, and they are more useful together than apart.

The first is the result: nitrate up to 8.3 ppm, reported at finished-water tap #3. The second is the range: 5.4 to 8.3 ppm, which is what the report prints for the year's sampling. A range appears because more than one result is reported for the period and they did not all come back the same. That is ordinary reporting, and it tells you something a single headline number cannot: the value moves.

The standard beside it is the federal maximum contaminant level of 10 ppm. Epworth's highest reported result was under it, and the report records no nitrate violation for the year. This is the city's own published document, quoted as it stands.

What a 10 ppm limit is, and what Epworth is doing

An MCL is not advice. It is an enforceable federal limit, which is the difference between it and a health advisory: a system that goes over an MCL is in violation and has to report that fact to its customers. Epworth did not go over it. EPA lists nitrate at 10 ppm measured as nitrogen, which is the same basis the city's report uses, so the two numbers are directly comparable.

Epworth is a groundwater system. Iowa DNR's facility record lists Well #2 (1964), Well #3 (1978) and Well #4 (1978), along with three treatment plants. The 2025 report does not describe a nitrate-removal step, so we do not claim one on the city's behalf. What the city does do is sample the finished water, publish the result, and print the limit next to it. That is the reason this page can exist at all — and it is worth noticing that a private well owner two miles outside town has none of it.

How 8.3 ppm compares to other Iowa systems we have read

Context is more useful than one figure alone. These are published utility numbers taken from the reports themselves, each measured against the same 10 ppm MCL:

One honest note on that table. Waverly's printed range reaches 10.4 ppm, which is above the 10 ppm MCL, and we do not hold a compliance determination for it either way — so we leave the cell blank rather than guess. Epworth's own number needs no such asterisk: it is real, it is under the limit, and it sits toward the higher end of the Iowa systems we have reviewed rather than at the top of them. For the statewide picture instead of one town's, see our guide to nitrates in Iowa water; the Epworth service-area page carries the rest of the city's water profile.

Why you cannot tell by tasting it

Iowa State University extension materials put it plainly: nitrate is odorless and tasteless. Hardness announces itself on the glassware and chlorine announces itself the day the dose goes up. Nitrate is a laboratory finding or it is nothing.

ISU also names the technologies that remove it — reverse osmosis, distillation and anion exchange — and the CDC adds the correction people most often need: boiling does not remove chemical contaminants, and with nitrate, boiling concentrates it as water evaporates off. Boiling is aimed at organisms, and that does not carry across to chemistry.

The order to do things in, if nitrate concerns you

Start with a number that belongs to your house, and be clear about which test produces which number. Our free in-home test measures hardness, iron and TDS at your sink. It does not produce a nitrate result. A nitrate number comes from the city's published report if you are on the Epworth system, or from a county lab if you are on a well. We would rather say that up front than let anyone book a visit expecting the wrong thing.

• On the Epworth city system: the utility's report is your nitrate figure and it is free to read. What it will not tell you is your hardness, because the report publishes no hardness figure for Epworth — that one we can measure for you.
• On a private well outside town: nobody publishes anything for you. The Iowa DNR recommends testing private wells every year for bacteria and nitrate, and Iowa's Private Well Grants program pays for county lab testing through your county environmental health office. ISU estimates roughly 230,000 Iowans drink from private wells.
• Buying or selling an acreage: Iowa doesn't require a well water test at sale. Iowa's time-of-transfer rule (Iowa Code 455B.172) is a septic inspection, needed before most sales of a home with a private septic system, with some exemptions such as certain family, estate and foreclosure transfers. The seller also lists any known wells on the groundwater hazard statement. The buyer's lender or the purchase agreement may still call for a water test (your county environmental health office can tell you about any local rules), and the Iowa DNR recommends checking the well and water before any sale, nitrate included. Our well water guide walks through what to test for.

Once a lab result is in hand, the decision is narrow. Nitrate is a drinking-water question, which points to a point-of-use system at the tap you drink from rather than a whole-house purchase. We install reverse osmosis systems and our systems are certified to the NSF/ANSI standards; NSF/ANSI 58 is the RO standard and requires at least 75% total dissolved solids reduction to certify. What we will not do is tell you what your specific result will be after treatment. We will show you the number before, tell you what the technology is built for, and let a test settle the rest.

Epworth pricing, all-in

Every price below is all-in: equipment, installation by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule and stand behind, taxes, and a lifetime parts warranty.

Two notes that save people money. On a private well outside Epworth we put a tank RO on it and never a tankless one, because wells run high TDS and a tankless unit loses pressure. And the annual plan is not a subscription for its own sake: it covers all three RO filters, a water test and a full system check, which is the maintenance an RO actually needs and the reason neglected units quietly stop doing their job. Full numbers are on our Iowa reverse osmosis cost page. There is $100 off for military and first responders, 0% financing is available, and our price does not expire.

Get your own number first

We will come to your house in Epworth, test the water at your sink, show you what we measure, and leave a written price. If the test says you do not need equipment, we say that too — it happens, and it is the whole reason we test before we quote. Call or text 319-319-6566, email ryan@kindwaterco.com, or get an instant quote online. We are family-owned, founded in 2021, headquartered in Marion, insured and bonded, with a lifetime parts warranty, five years on media and one year on labor. The first 50 miles from Marion are free. We cover the rest of Dubuque County from the same shop.