Alleman has not made its own drinking water since 2007. EPA's drinking water records (SDWIS) list the Alleman Water Supply as deactivated on 29 June 2007, and Des Moines Water Works' 2026 water quality report lists Alleman among the communities its water supplies. The same report gives Des Moines Water Works customer service as the contact for City of Alleman water questions. So the water at an Alleman kitchen tap today is regional water, softened at a DMWW plant before it reaches town, and that changes what a home here usually needs.
| Alleman at a glance | What the record shows |
|---|---|
| Who supplies the water | Des Moines Water Works. The 2026 water quality report footnotes list Alleman with Berwick, Cumming, Pleasant Hill, Windsor Heights and unincorporated Polk County as communities DMWW's water supplies |
| Where it comes from | The Raccoon and Des Moines rivers, treated at plants Des Moines Water Works operates for Central Iowa Water Works (CIWW), a regional water production authority that began operating on 1 January 2025 |
| Softened at the plant | Yes. DMWW's report lists softening among the treatment processes at its plants, and says the Saylorville plant, which serves residents north of Des Moines, uses ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis to soften and treat the water |
| Published hardness | DMWW's goal is total hardness below 150 mg/L, about 8.8 grains per gallon. That is a target, not a reading from your tap, and no Alleman-specific figure is published |
| Alleman's old system | Alleman Water Supply, PWSID IA7705022, 439 people served from its own wells, deactivated 29 June 2007 (EPA SDWIS) |
The federal record of the old system reads like a small-town water history. Well #1, drilled in 1964, was out of service by 1998. Well #2 (1975) and Well #3 (1996) fed a South Plant, with a separate North Plant chlorinator. SDWIS lists chlorination, pH adjustment and ion exchange at the South Plant. The system also had connections supplying North Polk Community Schools and a smaller second Alleman system on the north side, both closed in 2004, and a purchase connection from Southeast Polk Rural Water that is now inactive too.
The state's sample record adds one telling detail. Sodium in Alleman's treated water measured between 170 and 320 mg/L in samples taken from 1986 to 2007, and the last one, in April 2007, read 270 mg/L (Iowa DNR Drinking Water Portal). If you remember the old town water tasting different, the record says it was different. That supply, and the treatment that went with it, belong to a closed chapter.
It still matters for one practical reason. A softener installed in Alleman before the 2007 switch was set up for that old water. If yours is still running on its original settings, it may be regenerating on a schedule chosen for a supply that no longer reaches your house. Resetting or right-sizing it starts with a fresh reading of what comes out of your tap now.
Des Moines Water Works says it strives to keep total hardness below 150 mg/L, about 8.8 grains per gallon. The U.S. Geological Survey calls 61 to 120 mg/L moderately hard and 121 to 180 mg/L hard, so a goal just under 150 still sits inside the hard band. And a goal is not a measurement. It tells you what the utility aims for, not what reached your kitchen this week.
DMWW's report explains that its Saylorville plant in northern Polk County serves residents north of Des Moines, while other areas receive water from the Fleur Drive plant. The report does not name the plant behind each town, so we will not guess which one reaches Alleman. What we can do is measure it.
That is why the answer in Alleman is genuinely open. Some homes will want a softener for spotting on glass and scale on fixtures. Some will want reverse osmosis at the kitchen sink and nothing else. Some want both, and some need nothing at all. The tap test decides, not a sales pitch.
Every price is all-in: equipment, installation, taxes and warranty. Installs are done by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind.
Annual service is $199 a year for a tank-RO home and $249 for a tankless-RO home. Travel is simple: the first 50 miles are free, then $1 a mile, and we quote it before you agree. You can also start with an instant quote.
Homes outside the city limits on a private well have no plant and no annual report between the ground and the faucet. Polk County's Environmental Health Services offers free drinking-well water testing to private well users in the county, in conjunction with the Iowa DNR, covering coliform bacteria, E. coli, nitrate, arsenic and manganese. Our guide to free well water testing in Iowa walks through the steps.
A bacteria result needs professional follow-up from the county or a certified well contractor before you rely on the water. Once a well has tested safe, our well water systems take on the everyday problems of hardness, iron and sediment. A dual-tank well system is $3,450, or $3,800 with a tank RO, with a sediment filter at $500 and supplemental UV (NSF/ANSI 55 Class B) at $700. On a well we fit a tank RO rather than a tankless one.
We are licensed and insured. Our softeners are built from NSF/ANSI 44 certified components, and our reverse osmosis systems are certified to NSF/ANSI 58 for total dissolved solids. Installation is by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind. Our prices are published and all-in, and in a town that already receives softened water we would rather show you a reading than sell you a system you do not need.
We come to your home, measure hardness, iron and total dissolved solids at your kitchen sink, show you the numbers next to DMWW's 150 mg/L goal, and leave a written quote with no obligation. If the right answer is a softener, reverse osmosis, both or nothing, that is what you will hear. Request a quote or get an instant quote.
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Des Moines Water Works. Alleman's own system, the Alleman Water Supply (PWSID IA7705022), was deactivated on 29 June 2007 according to EPA SDWIS, and DMWW's 2026 water quality report lists Alleman among the communities its water supplies. The report names Des Moines Water Works customer service as the contact for Alleman.
Yes, at the plant. Des Moines Water Works says it strives to keep total hardness below 150 mg/L, about 8.8 grains per gallon. That is a goal rather than a reading from your tap, and it still falls inside the band the U.S. Geological Survey calls hard, 121 to 180 mg/L.
Not automatically. Because DMWW softens before the water reaches town, the answer depends on your tap and your household. Our free in-home test measures hardness, iron and total dissolved solids, and the result decides: a softener, reverse osmosis, both or nothing.
It is worth a look. A softener installed while Alleman ran its own wells was set up for that water, not for today's DMWW supply. We can test your tap, reset or repair the unit, and tell you plainly whether it is still earning its salt. A diagnostic visit is $199, and a known-issue trip is $99 plus the part.
A whole-home softener with carbon filtration is $2,500 all-in, or $2,850 with reverse osmosis, including equipment, installation, taxes and warranty. Reverse osmosis on its own is $800 tank or $900 tankless. Travel is free for the first 50 miles, then $1 a mile, quoted before you agree.
Every number on this page comes from a public record. Here is where to open each one yourself.
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