Altoona pumps its own deep-well water and softens it by ion exchange at three plants. Its sodium ran 124 to 153 mg/L in 2025 and 2026 samples (City of Altoona; Iowa DNR). Kind Water Co installs kitchen reverse osmosis in Altoona. It costs $897 with a tank or $997 tankless, installed with tax included.
RO gives your kitchen its own faucet for drinking and cooking water. This page covers what Altoona's treatment means for that faucet. Softeners, filtration, repair and the full supply story are on our Altoona water softener page.
Altoona city water starts nearly half a mile underground. The City pumps it from Jordan aquifer wells drilled in 1968, 1976 and 1998 (Iowa DNR). EPA records list the same basic steps at all three plants: aeration, pressure filters, ion-exchange softening, chlorine to disinfect it, and a phosphate added to protect pipes.
Altoona doesn't buy water from Des Moines Water Works; EPA lists that connection as inactive since 2005. So the glass you pour at an Altoona sink holds the City's own well water, not the river water Des Moines homes get. The City doesn't publish the total dissolved solids (TDS) in its finished water. The state did test the new Well #5 on September 28, 2026, before any treatment, and measured 670 mg/L of TDS (Iowa DNR). That well isn't in service yet, and raw water isn't tap water, but it shows how much dissolved mineral the plants start with.
Altoona's 2025 water quality report lists sodium at each plant: 145 ppm at Plant #1 and 124 ppm at Plant #2, both sampled May 20, 2025, and 133 ppm at Plant #3, sampled July 23, 2025. For its source, the report names "erosion of natural deposits" and "added to water during treatment process." The state's newest samples, from May 4, 2026, read 153, 130 and 137 mg/L at the same three plants (Iowa DNR).
That runs well above Des Moines. In 2025, the highest sodium result at any of the three Des Moines Water Works plants was 53.38 mg/L, at Fleur Drive (DMWW 2026 report). The two utilities also treat their water differently: Des Moines' plants soften river water with lime, plus reverse osmosis at Saylorville, while Altoona's three plants soften well water by ion exchange (EPA SDWIS).
Ion exchange stays in Altoona's plans. Plant No. 4, scheduled to come online in January 2028, will add four more ion-exchange softeners (Story Construction). Sodium is one part of TDS, the dissolved minerals and salts our RO is certified to reduce. A kitchen RO puts that treatment at one faucet for drinking and cooking, and our free test reads the TDS at your sink so you know your starting number.
On Altoona city water, either system works, so the choice comes down to your cabinet and your outlet. The tank unit keeps a small storage tank under the sink. The tankless unit skips the tank but needs an outlet; if a garbage disposal already uses it, an air switch frees it for $200. On a private well, we install the tank system only. Acreages on Southeast Polk Rural Water get treated Des Moines Water Works water rather than a well, so either system works there too.
| Tank RO | Tankless RO | |
|---|---|---|
| Price, installed with tax | $897 | $997 |
| Stages | 7, alkaline filter included | 7, alkaline built in |
| Storage tank | Small tank under the sink | None |
| Needs an outlet | No | Yes |
| Altoona city water | Yes | Yes |
| Private well | Yes, our only well RO | No |
| Certified to NSF/ANSI 58 for TDS reduction | Yes, by IAPMO R&T | Yes, by NSF |
| Warranty | 1 year | 1 year |
Specs are on our tank reverse osmosis and tankless reverse osmosis pages.
The installer mounts the RO under your sink, ties it into the cold line and the drain, and adds its own drinking faucet. No spare hole in the sink? We drill one. Five faucet finishes come included: chrome, brushed nickel, matte black, oil-rubbed bronze and brushed gold. Any other finish is $200.
A line to the refrigerator or ice maker is $350 with the tank unit or $300 with tankless. Two things to know before you choose it: it can't run to a sink in an island, and even with the fridge close by, it works out about half the time, with no way to tell in advance.
Tight cabinet? The RO can sit in the basement and be plumbed up to the faucet for $400, tank or tankless, and a wall shelf to hold it is $100 more. A basement install plus a fridge line is $500 together with either system. Iowa-wide RO price ranges are in our reverse osmosis cost guide, and posted prices from Des Moines-area companies are compared on our Des Moines reverse osmosis page.
RO filter care is $199 a year if we mail you the filters and you swap them, or $249 a year if we come out, swap them and test your water. Both plans cost the same for tank and tankless. A non-warranty service call is $149 for time and labor, plus any parts; calls covered by our warranty are free. If you go ahead with the repair or a new system, the $149 counts toward it. If we fix something and swap your RO filters on the same visit, that's one charge, not two. We service all brands as long as parts are available. Slow RO water? Our RO service guide covers the common fixes.
Altoona is in Polk County, where a 2025 source-water report traced about 60% of the nitrogen in the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers to farm fertilizer and manure (Iowa Public Radio, July 2025). Our 7-stage reverse osmosis adds a dedicated kitchen faucet for drinking and cooking water, and EPA lists reverse osmosis as a best available technology for nitrate. The most complete setup is both: whole-home nitrate removal for every faucet, plus reverse osmosis at the kitchen sink for drinking and cooking water.
On our Des Moines Google profile, 3 reviews carry a reply from us that names Altoona (counted October 30, 2026). Two of those installs paired tankless reverse osmosis with whole-home treatment: one with a dual-tank whole-home system, and one with whole-home carbon and a softener. More reviews are on our reviews page.
Free home screening measures hardness, iron, TDS and a nitrate screening reading. It also checks chlorine. We look under your sink, check the tank and tankless fit and give you a written price. Book your free water test or try our instant quote. We confirm any travel charge before you book.
Your nearest office: Kind Water Co · 600 SE 15th St, Des Moines, IA 50317 · 515-709-4674, about 8 miles from Altoona and open 24 hours. Call or text (515) 709-4674, or email hello@kindwaterco.com.
For Altoona softeners, filtration and repair, see our Altoona water page. West Des Moines also softens water from its own wells, and sodium at its A.C. Ward plant was 210 mg/L in 2024 (WDMWW 2025 report); see reverse osmosis in West Des Moines. Eastern Pleasant Hill shares Southeast Polk Rural Water with some acreages around Altoona; see water treatment in Pleasant Hill.
Kind Water Co installs kitchen RO in Altoona for $897 with a tank or $997 tankless. Installation, tax and a 1-year warranty are included. You can also add it to our softener and whole-home carbon system at the same visit. Then the total goes from $2,500 to $2,850, with a lifetime parts warranty on the softener and a 1-year warranty on the RO.
Altoona's 2025 water quality report names two sources: "erosion of natural deposits" and "added to water during treatment process." The City's three plants soften by ion exchange (EPA SDWIS). The report lists 145, 124 and 133 ppm at Plants #1, #2 and #3. The state's May 4, 2026 samples read 153, 130 and 137 mg/L. Sodium is one part of TDS, the dissolved minerals and salts our RO is certified to reduce.
The two utilities treat different water in different ways. Altoona softens its own deep-well water by ion exchange. Des Moines Water Works softens river water with lime, plus reverse osmosis at its Saylorville plant (EPA SDWIS; DMWW 2026 report). The highest 2025 sodium result at a Des Moines plant was 53.38 mg/L. Altoona's three plants ran 124 to 145 ppm that year.
A lot of dissolved mineral. On September 28, 2026, the state sampled Altoona's new Well #5 before treatment and found 670 mg/L of total dissolved solids, 400 mg/L of hardness and 25 mg/L of iron (Iowa DNR). That well isn't in service yet, and raw water isn't tap water: the plants filter and soften it first. The City doesn't publish TDS for its finished water, so our free test reads it at your sink.
No. Southeast Polk Rural Water District buys treated water from Des Moines Water Works, so its 7,565 customers get Des Moines' plant water, not Altoona's softened well water (EPA SDWIS). EPA lists the connection between the two systems as inactive since early 2025. Check your water bill to see which you have. Either way, a tank or tankless RO works, and the free test reads your own tap.
On Altoona city water, either one works, so cabinet room and an outlet usually decide. Tankless is $997. It skips the storage tank but needs an outlet under the sink. The tank system is $897. It needs room for its tank, and it is the only RO we put on a private well. That matters for acreages outside city water.
Kind Water Co. We book the visit from our Des Moines office at 600 SE 15th St, about 8 miles from Altoona, and the install is done by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind. Kind Water Co is licensed and insured. We confirm any travel charge before you book. Call or text 515-709-4674 any time; we're open 24 hours.
Whole-home water softening, filtration, and reverse-osmosis drinking water — professionally installed and built to last a lifetime.
Serving Des Moines, Polk County & homes across Iowa
Kind Water Co is a d/b/a of Zero Cap Investments LLC · 600 SE 15th St, Des Moines, IA 50317
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