Asbury pumps its own drinking water from four deep Cambrian-Ordovician wells — its documented well logs run 600 to 900 feet, per the Iowa Geological Survey — and unlike neighboring Dubuque, that water is not softened at the plant. Kind Water Co installs water softeners and reverse osmosis drinking water systems for Asbury homes, with free in-home testing and honest all-in pricing.
| Utility | Asbury Municipal Water System (PWSID IA3102001), city-owned, serving 5,943 people per Iowa DNR records |
|---|---|
| Water source | Four active deep wells in the Cambrian-Ordovician (Jordan) aquifer — Wedgewood, Woodmore, New CE, and Cloie Creek — per Iowa DNR facility records |
| Softened at the plant? | No. Iowa DNR lists a treatment plant at each wellhouse for chlorination, but no softening facility — water reaches your tap unsoftened |
| One distinguishing fact | The city documented a 2019 “breakpoint chlorination” change that left some residents reporting a “bleachy” smell before it moved back to a 1.5 mg/L total chlorine residual |
Asbury is one of the fastest-growing communities in Iowa — its population nearly doubled in 20 years, per MSA, the engineering firm behind the city's recent water system improvements. To keep up, the city added a roughly 180-foot-tall, 500,000-gallon elevated tank and a new well after the old tank was emptying quickly during peak summer demand. Today the system runs on four active wells drilled between 1996 and 2017, each with its own small treatment plant, plus two elevated storage tanks, per Iowa DNR facility records. Six older subdivision wells have been plugged.
Those wells go deep. Iowa Geological Survey records show Wedgewood Well #10 drilled to 600 feet of well depth (855 feet total), with the Colonial Estates well reaching roughly 900 feet into the same Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer. That's classic Eastern Iowa deep-well groundwater — and here's the part that matters for your fixtures: the treatment Iowa DNR documents at those wellhouses is disinfection, not softening. Compare that with Dubuque next door, where the Eagle Point plant lime-softens water from about 280 mg/L down to around 100 mg/L before it ever leaves the plant. Asbury homes don't get that head start. The city publishes no hardness number, so we won't invent one — but if you're seeing white spots on dishes, crusty scale on faucets, and shampoo that won't lather, your water is telling you what the well logs suggest. A whole-home water softener is the fix, and our free in-home test will put an exact grains-per-gallon number on your tap before you spend a dime. You can see how neighboring cities compare on our Iowa water hardness by city guide.
Asbury's water department has been unusually open about its disinfection journey. In October 2019, per the city's own water system user information page, the department began moving the supply toward “breakpoint” chlorination, and some customers reported a “bleachy” smell from their taps. The city later moved the water back to a 1.5 mg/L total chlorine residual — one of the two minimums Iowa DNR accepts for a public supply, the other being 0.3 mg/L free chlorine, carried throughout the distribution system. That residual keeps the water protected on its way to you, and the city says the supply stayed compliant with Iowa DNR standards the whole time — but plenty of Asbury families would still rather not taste it in their coffee. If that's your house, our guide to tap water that tastes like chlorine explains what's going on, and a reverse osmosis system with carbon filtration at the kitchen sink polishes taste and odor at the one tap your family actually drinks from.
Per EWG's Tap Water Database, which is built from Iowa DNR test data, Asbury's water was in compliance with federal health-based drinking water standards. The same database reports eight contaminants above EWG's stricter, non-regulatory health guidelines — led by total trihalomethanes at 19.5 ppb (well under the 80 ppb legal limit, but above EWG's 0.15 ppb guideline) and combined radium at 1.95 pCi/L, which occurs naturally in deep aquifers like the Jordan. We're not going to dramatize numbers the state considers compliant. What we will say is this: if you'd like to know exactly what's coming out of your own tap, start with a free test. For drinking water specifically, NSF/ANSI 58 — the standard reverse osmosis systems are certified to — sets a minimum 75 percent reduction in total dissolved solids.
Every price below is all-in: equipment, professional installation, taxes, and a lifetime warranty on parts. No surprise line items.
0% financing is available, and we take $100 off for military and first responders.
Step outside Asbury's city limits into rural Dubuque County and you're likely on your own well — no chlorination, no annual city report, no one testing but you. The Iowa DNR recommends private wells be tested every year, and Iowa's Private Well Grants program makes that easy: free water testing through your county lab. Our guide to free well water testing in Iowa walks you through it. When the results come back, we design around them — our well water treatment lineup includes a dual-tank softener built for well demands ($3,450, or $3,800 with a tank RO), UV disinfection ($700), and sediment filtration ($500). Iron and sulfur systems are quoted after your free water test, because sizing them right matters more than quoting them fast.
Kind Water Co is family-owned, founded in 2021 by Ryan Brunton and headquartered up the road in Marion. Every installation is performed by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind. You get a lifetime warranty on parts, five years on media, and one year on labor — we're fully insured and bonded, and 0% financing is available on every system. Our name is our promise: kind people, kind pricing, and water that's kind to your home.
Fifteen minutes at your kitchen sink tells us your hardness, iron, chlorine, and TDS — and tells you exactly what your water needs (sometimes the answer is nothing, and we'll say so). Call or text 319-319-6566, email ryan@kindwaterco.com, or grab an instant quote online in under a minute.
Also serving nearby: we cover the whole metro from our Dubuque service area, along with communities across Eastern Iowa.
The city publishes no hardness figure, but Asbury's water comes from deep Cambrian-Ordovician wells — the documented logs run 600 to 900 feet, per Iowa Geological Survey records — and Iowa DNR facility records show chlorination, not softening, at the wellhouses. Deep groundwater like that reaches the tap unsoftened, so spotting, scale, and dry skin are common. Our free in-home test gives you the exact grains-per-gallon number.
Asbury maintains a 1.5 mg/L total chlorine residual throughout its distribution system, per the city's water department — and in 2019 the city documented a “breakpoint chlorination” change that some customers described as a “bleachy” smell. The city says the supply stayed compliant with Iowa DNR standards throughout. Carbon filtration or a reverse osmosis system at the kitchen sink polishes off the taste.
Per EWG's Tap Water Database, built from Iowa DNR test data, Asbury's water was in compliance with federal health-based drinking water standards. EWG's stricter, non-regulatory guidelines flag eight contaminants, led by total trihalomethanes at 19.5 ppb (legal limit: 80 ppb) and combined radium at 1.95 pCi/L. If you want to know what's at your own tap, start with a free water test.
Dubuque's Eagle Point plant lime-softens city water from about 280 mg/L to around 100 mg/L — but that's Dubuque's system, not Asbury's. Asbury runs its own four-well system, and Iowa DNR records list no softening facility. If you're seeing scale on fixtures and spots on glassware, a softener is the fix, and our free test confirms it first.
$2,500 all-in — equipment, installation by a licensed local plumber, taxes, and a lifetime parts warranty. Add reverse osmosis drinking water for a combined $2,850, or step up to an XL system for larger homes at $2,800. 0% financing is available, and military and first responders save $100. No hidden fees, ever.
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
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