Cross the Des Moines city limit into Altoona and the water changes more than anywhere else in the metro. Altoona runs its own wells 2,500 feet down into the Jordan aquifer and softens them with ion exchange, publishing a hardness of 2 to 5 grains per gallon — roughly 40 to 60 percent softer than the Des Moines target. Most Altoona homes do not need a water softener.
| Altoona at a glance | What the record shows |
|---|---|
| Who supplies the water | Altoona Water, the City of Altoona water department, PWSID IA7707030, 19,565 people served (EPA SDWIS). Altoona is not a Central Iowa Water Works member and runs its own supply and treatment |
| Where it comes from | Groundwater. Altoona states that “the majority of the city's source water is from the Jordan Aquifer (aka Cambrian-Ordovician Aquifer),” at approximately 2,500 feet, through three source wells and three treatment plants producing 5 million gallons a day against about 3 million of demand |
| Softened at the plant | Yes, by ion exchange rather than lime. A new Water Treatment Plant No. 4, coming online in January 2028, is specified as three pressure filters plus four ion exchange softeners at 4 MGD, expandable to 8, fed by a new 2,530-foot Jordan well |
| Published hardness | “Typically, Altoona system water has a hardness value in the range of 2 to 5 grains per gallon or 34 to 85 mg/L” (Altoona Water official FAQ) |
Almost every city page on this site ends up somewhere near “you probably want a softener.” Altoona does not. At 2 to 5 grains per gallon, the plant has already done the work a home softener does, and doing it twice makes water that feels slippery, tastes flat and costs you salt for nothing.
The contrast with the neighbours is stark. Des Moines Water Works targets 8.76 grains. Waukee publishes a measured 7.5 to 8.5. Altoona publishes 2 to 5. Drive across one city limit and hardness drops by more than half. If you moved to Altoona from elsewhere in the metro and brought a softener with you, or bought a house with one already installed, the setting on that unit is almost certainly wrong for this water. That is worth checking before you buy anything at all.
Ion exchange softening works by swapping calcium and magnesium for sodium, and Altoona's own reports show the signature clearly. The 2024 Consumer Confidence Report lists sodium at 150 ppm in the Plant No. 1 area and 141 ppm at Plant No. 2, Well No. 3. Des Moines' Fleur Drive plant, by comparison, measured 53.38 mg/L. So Altoona water is dramatically softer and carries roughly three times the sodium.
Sodium is not a regulated contaminant — there is no maximum contaminant level printed beside it in these reports, and we are not going to imply one. It is a published figure that some households want to do something about, and the thing that does something about it is reverse osmosis at the kitchen tap, not a whole-house system. That is the honest Altoona recommendation and it costs a fraction of what a softener would.
Deep Jordan aquifer water carries naturally occurring radionuclides, and Altoona reports them. The 2024 CCR shows gross alpha at 19.8 pCi/L at Plant No. 2 finished water on 4 December 2024, against a 15 pCi/L maximum contaminant level, reported as a single sample with no violation; 12.6 pCi/L at Plant No. 3; and combined radium at 2.1 pCi/L against a 5 pCi/L limit. Nitrate, meanwhile, is a non-issue at 0.800 ppm, because deep groundwater is insulated from the river nitrate cycle that shut down metro lawn watering two summers running.
Compliance for these contaminants is judged on a running annual average rather than a single sample, which is why a single reading above the limit is reported without a violation attached. We are stating it because it is in Altoona's own report and because point-of-use reverse osmosis is a recognised treatment approach for both sodium and dissolved radionuclides. The nearby Dyersville page covers what a dedicated radium removal plant looks like when a city builds one.
The shopping list here is shorter than anywhere else in this metro, and that is the point. All prices are all-in: equipment, installation, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty.
Annual maintenance is $199 a year for a tank-RO home and $249 for a tankless-RO home. A diagnostic service call is $199; a known-issue trip is $99 plus the part. Financing is 0%, with $100 off for military and first responders. Ask for the written breakdown before anything gets booked, or start one from our instant quote.
Beyond the city's service area, rural Polk and Jasper County homes draw private wells with no plant, no ion exchange and no annual report. That is a completely different job from a city install. Our well water setup is a dual-tank system at $3,450, or $3,800 with tank RO, plus UV disinfection at $700 and sediment pre-filtration at $500 when the test calls for them. We use tank RO rather than tankless on a well, because high dissolved solids cost a tankless unit its pressure. Start with free well water testing.
We are licensed and insured, and our softeners are built from NSF/ANSI 44 certified components and our reverse osmosis systems are certified to NSF/ANSI 58. Licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule and stand behind do the work. Our prices are published and all-in, and we will happily talk you out of equipment your water does not need.
If a salesperson has quoted you a softener in Altoona without testing your water first, get a second reading before you sign anything. We come out, measure hardness, sodium, iron and the rest at your kitchen sink, and give you the numbers and a written quote at no charge — including, often enough, the recommendation to buy less than you were expecting. Book your free in-home water test.
Des Moines · Ankeny · Polk City · Indianola · Urbandale · Polk County
Altoona Water's official FAQ states that “typically, Altoona system water has a hardness value in the range of 2 to 5 grains per gallon or 34 to 85 mg/L.” That is roughly 40 to 60 percent softer than the 8.76 grain target Des Moines Water Works publishes for the neighbouring city, and it is measured after the plant's own ion exchange softening.
Usually not. At 2 to 5 grains per gallon, Altoona's plant has already done what a home softener does, and softening twice produces water that feels slippery and costs salt for no benefit. If you moved here with a softener or bought a house with one fitted, its settings are probably wrong for this water. A test settles it in fifteen minutes.
Because ion exchange softening swaps calcium and magnesium for sodium, and Altoona softens at the plant that way. The 2024 Consumer Confidence Report lists sodium at 150 ppm in the Plant No. 1 area and 141 ppm at Plant No. 2, Well No. 3, against 53.38 mg/L at Des Moines' Fleur Drive plant. Sodium is not a regulated contaminant.
The 2024 report shows gross alpha at 19.8 pCi/L at Plant No. 2 finished water on 4 December 2024 against a 15 pCi/L maximum contaminant level, recorded as a single sample with no violation, plus 12.6 pCi/L at Plant No. 3 and combined radium at 2.1 pCi/L against a 5 pCi/L limit. Compliance is judged on a running annual average.
A standalone Kind Water Co reverse osmosis system is $800 for the tank model and $900 tankless, all-in with equipment, installation, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty. That is the usual recommendation here, since the plant already softens. RO systems are certified to NSF/ANSI 58, with 0% financing and $100 off for military and first responders.
Every number on this page comes from a public record. Here is where to open each one yourself.
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
.webp)
