Boone Water Works softens its water with lime before it reaches your tap, and it publishes no hardness figure. The Boone water story getting attention this year is nitrate. The plant has no nitrate removal step, so the city is drilling a new well in a lower-nitrate area before Daisy Brand's new plant starts taking treated water in 2028. Here is what the public record shows, stated plainly.
| Boone at a glance | What the record shows |
|---|---|
| Who supplies the water | Boone Water Works, PWSID IA0819033, 12,704 people served (EPA SDWIS); 2024 Census city estimate 12,461 |
| Where it comes from | 17 active alluvial wells, 36 to 67 feet deep, in the Des Moines River valley. Iowa DNR classes the supply as groundwater under the direct influence of surface water |
| Softened at the plant | Yes. EPA SDWIS lists lime softening and recarbonation with carbon dioxide under the softening objective, plus coagulation, packed-tower aeration and blending |
| Published hardness | None. The Iowa DNR Drinking Water Portal holds no hardness result for Boone Water Works |
| Nitrate removal at the plant | None. EPA SDWIS lists no nitrate treatment process, and the city does not have a nitrate removal system (Iowa Capital Dispatch, July 2026) |
Boone draws from shallow wells close to the Des Moines River. The Iowa DNR Source Water Tracker lists 17 active alluvial wells between 36 and 67 feet deep, and the state classes the supply as groundwater under the direct influence of surface water. In plain terms, the wells are shallow enough and close enough to the river that what happens in the river reaches them.
At the plant, EPA SDWIS records lime softening and recarbonation with carbon dioxide, the step that settles the water back down after the lime has done its work, along with coagulation, a packed aeration tower and blending. Lime softening lowers calcium and magnesium without swapping them for sodium, and Boone's finished-tap sodium measured 14 mg/L on 7 July 2026 (Iowa DNR Drinking Water Portal).
What the plant does not publish is the result. Lime softening lowers hardness without taking it to zero, and there is no finished hardness figure for Boone in the state database. Rather than borrow a number from another town, we measure yours. Our free in-home test tells you how much hardness is actually left at your sink, and whether a home softener is worth it in your house. Our signs you need a softener guide is a fair way to judge in the meantime.
The federal drinking water limit for nitrate is 10 mg/L, measured as nitrogen. Boone's treated water peaked at 8.9 mg/L on 2 June 2026, the highest of 60 detections since 2021, and readings from 8.0 to 8.6 mg/L also appear in 2024 to 2026. The most recent result on file, from 4 August 2026, is 5.7 mg/L. All of these are finished-tap samples in the Iowa DNR Drinking Water Portal, open for anyone to look up.
Two things explain why the numbers move. The wells sit in the river valley, and Iowa Capital Dispatch reported in July 2026 that a report prepared for the city describes nitrate in the Des Moines River as having trended upward. And lime softening is built for hardness: EPA SDWIS lists no nitrate treatment process for the plant, and the same reporting says the city does not have a nitrate removal system.
Boone's answer is to change the water it starts with. The city's fiscal 2026 capital improvements program includes $3.8 million for a new well in an area the report describes as having historically low nitrate concentrations, and $4.14 million for a new water tower near the Daisy Brand facility. Iowa Capital Dispatch reported the plans on 9 July 2026, and the Ames Tribune carried the story on 14 July.
The new well is about flexibility. SDWIS already lists blending among Boone's treatment steps, and a lower-nitrate source gives the plant more room to mix its raw water. The report says Boone needs no additional wells for capacity today, but that supplying Daisy's plant with treated water from 2028 will affect both demand and how the city manages nitrate. Across treatment and storage, the city expects to spend more than $12 million by 2030.
If you want a nitrate number for your own tap, a certified laboratory can run one, and Boone's finished-water results stay public in the Iowa DNR portal. Our free in-home test does not cover nitrate. It measures hardness, iron and total dissolved solids, the readings that decide which equipment makes sense for your home.
Boone's plant serves more than the city. Xenia Rural Water District's Boone system, PWSID IA0844006, buys its water from Boone Water Works and adds only booster disinfection, according to EPA SDWIS. Slater, over the line in Story County, runs its own wells and also buys water through that Xenia connection. If your bill says Xenia and you live around Boone, your water most likely begins at the same lime plant. For the other big lime plant in the area, see our Ames page.
Every price is all-in: equipment, installation, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty. Installs are done by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule and stand behind.
Maintenance is $199 a year for a tank-RO home and $249 for a tankless-RO home. A diagnostic service call is $199, or $99 for a known-issue trip plus the part. Military and first responders get $100 off. Travel is free for the first 50 miles, then $1 a mile, and we quote it before you book. For a number on your own house, start an instant quote or request a written quote.
Outside city limits, Boone County homes on private wells have no plant, no softening and no annual report. Iowa's Grants to Counties program funds private-well testing through county environmental health offices, so ask Boone County's office what it covers this year before buying anything. Nearby towns differ too: Madrid lime-softens, while Ogden's plant lists only chlorination and a silicate corrosion inhibitor in EPA SDWIS, with no softening step.
For a well, our well water system is a dual-tank build at $3,450, or $3,800 with tank RO. UV at $700 and sediment pre-filtration at $500 are added from the readings. We fit tank RO rather than tankless on a well, because high dissolved solids cost a tankless unit its pressure. Start with free well water testing in Iowa.
Kind Water Co is licensed and insured. 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 every install. Pricing is published and all-in, and where a utility publishes no hardness number, as in Boone, we would rather measure yours than borrow a neighbor's.
We come to your home, test hardness, iron and total dissolved solids at your own sink, and leave you the readings and a written quote at no charge, whichever way you decide. Book your free in-home water test or request a quote.
Ames · Polk City · Grimes · Ankeny
We also serve Madrid, Ogden and rural Boone County.
Boone Water Works does not publish a hardness figure, and the Iowa DNR Drinking Water Portal holds no hardness result for the system. The plant lime-softens, which lowers hardness without removing all of it. The only reliable number for your home is a measured one, which our free in-home test gives you.
Yes. EPA SDWIS records for PWSID IA0819033 list lime softening and recarbonation with carbon dioxide under the softening objective, along with coagulation, packed-tower aeration and blending. The source is 17 shallow alluvial wells in the Des Moines River valley.
The federal limit for nitrate is 10 mg/L as nitrogen. Boone's treated water peaked at 8.9 mg/L on 2 June 2026 and measured 5.7 mg/L on 4 August 2026 (Iowa DNR Drinking Water Portal). The plant has no nitrate removal system, so the city has budgeted $3.8 million for a new well in a historically low-nitrate area before Daisy Brand's plant starts taking water in 2028 (Iowa Capital Dispatch, July 2026).
Use a certified laboratory. Our free in-home test does not include nitrate; it measures hardness, iron and total dissolved solids. Boone's own finished-water nitrate results are public in the Iowa DNR Drinking Water Portal.
A Kind Water Co softener is $2,500 all-in, or $2,850 with reverse osmosis, and the XL with RO is $3,150. Reverse osmosis alone is $800 tank or $900 tankless. Prices include installation by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule and stand behind, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty. Travel is free for the first 50 miles, then $1 a mile, quoted before you book.
Every number on this page comes from a public record. Here is where to open each one yourself.
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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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