Reverse Osmosis Systems in Ames, IA

Ames softens its water at the plant, and it still reaches your kitchen hard. Most Ames homeowners who call us want something narrower: better-tasting drinking water with fewer dissolved solids at one tap. We install reverse osmosis here for $800 tank, $900 tankless.

What the Ames plant does, and what it leaves for your kitchen

Ames treats all of its well water at its own lime-softening plant. In August 2026 the incoming well water averaged 413 mg/L of hardness and the treated water averaged 153 mg/L, with daily readings from 123 to 188, per the City’s monthly water-quality data. The city converts that to 8.94 grains per gallon. The USGS scale calls 121 to 180 mg/L “hard”, so treated Ames water is far below where it started, and still hard. More is on our Ames water page.

The plant settles what the whole city gets, not how a glass from your kitchen tap tastes. That is the RO’s job.

If your complaint is in the middle column, an RO is the answer. If it is in the right-hand column, read on.

When reverse osmosis is not the right choice

• The complaint is the whole house. Crusty faucets, spotty glasses and stiff towels are hardness at every fixture, and 8.94 grains still causes them. An RO under one sink never sees it; a softener does, and the two go in together for $2,850.
• You are worried about a specific health contaminant. Start with a state-certified lab, such as the State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa, then choose equipment certified for that contaminant. Ours is certified for total dissolved solids, and we will not stretch that.
• You are on a private well. On Story County acreages outside city service, iron or sulfur treatment comes first, quoted after the test, and we fit only tank RO on a well.

What 8.94 grains means for the tap you drink from

A membrane on Ames city water faces about 153 mg/L of hardness, not the 413 in the raw wells, because the plant did the heavy lifting first. An RO does its job here with or without a softener ahead of it; whether you also want a softener is a question about the rest of the house. See how Ames compares in our Iowa water hardness by city guide.

Our reverse osmosis systems are certified to NSF/ANSI 58 for total dissolved solids reduction; the standard requires at least a 75% TDS cut to certify. We measure TDS at your sink during the free test. Annual service is $199 a year on a tank home, $249 on a tankless, covering all three filters, a water test and a system check.

Tank or tankless: cabinet space, faucet and fridge line

A tank system is $800 and stores treated water in a pressurized tank about the size of a bread box, so cabinet room decides. It needs no power.

A tankless system is $900. It frees the cabinet but needs a dedicated outlet under the sink, often switched or taken by the garbage disposal. An air switch moves the disposal to a countertop button and frees the outlet for $300.

The RO gets its own faucet; a spare soap-dispenser hole works, or one is drilled. A specialty or digital faucet is $200. A refrigerator or ice-maker line is possible on a tank system and priced on your quote, with two facts first: it cannot be done if your sink sits in an island, and even with the fridge nearby it is roughly a coin flip whether the run works.

Renting in Ames: landlords and tenants

Ames is a university town with plenty of rented kitchens. An RO means a faucet at the sink, sometimes a new hole, a tap on the cold line and a drain connection. That changes the owner’s property, so we need the owner’s OK before we install.

Tenants: ask your landlord in writing; an email is fine, and we can send the quote straight to them. Agree up front who pays for filter changes and who keeps the system when the lease ends.

Landlords: tenants turn over and filters get forgotten, so rentals get a maintenance plan: annual service at $199 on a tank system or $249 on a tankless, booked to whoever agreed to pay. A tank system is usually simpler in a rental.

What each option costs

Each price includes equipment, installation by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind, taxes, and our lifetime parts warranty — five years on media, one year on labor. We are licensed and insured.

• Tank RO on its own: $800
• Tankless RO on its own: $900
• Softener only, no carbon filtration: $1,900
• Softener plus whole-home filtration: $2,500, or $2,850 with RO added
• Annual service: $199 a year on a tank home, $249 on a tankless

Adding RO at the same visit as a softener costs $350 rather than $800. Military and first responders take $100 off, and 0% financing is available. The first 50 miles of travel are free, then $1 a mile, quoted before you agree to anything. Statewide figures are on our reverse osmosis cost in Iowa page.

How install day goes

An under-sink RO takes a morning: the licensed plumbing professional we schedule taps the cold line, mounts the unit, sets the faucet, ties in the drain, flushes the system and shows you which filter is which. More is on our reverse osmosis page and the tank and tankless system pages.

Have us test your sink first, free

The free in-home test measures hardness, iron and TDS at your own tap and leaves you the readings. It does not screen for health contaminants; for that, use a state-certified lab. Book your free in-home water test, get a number in about a minute from our instant quote, call or text 319-319-6566, or email ryan@kindwaterco.com. Kind Water Co is family-owned, founded in 2021 by Ryan Brunton.

Towns next door

• Ankeny — south on Interstate 35, at the north edge of the Des Moines metro
• Des Moines — Des Moines Water Works’ plants averaged 135 to 148 mg/L this summer, also in the hard band
• Marshalltown — east on Highway 30