Des Moines is one of the few Iowa cities where the utility already softens your water. Des Moines Water Works aims to hold hardness under 150 mg/L — about 8.76 grains per gallon — which is softer than most of the state and still sits inside the EPA's hard band. So the Des Moines conversation usually is not a softener. It is nitrate, and what you drink.
Kind Water Co installs and services water softeners, whole-home carbon filtration, reverse osmosis drinking-water systems and well water systems in Des Moines homes. We also repair and service existing softeners. Installation is handled by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind.
We come to you in Des Moines. The free in-home water test measures hardness, iron and total dissolved solids at your kitchen sink. The first 50 miles of travel are free; after that it is $1 a mile, and we quote it before you agree to anything.
The test can lead to a softener, reverse osmosis, both, or nothing at all. If your water does not need treatment, we will tell you so.
Every price below is all-in: equipment, installation, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty.
We offer 0% financing, and $100 off for military and first responders. To start, book your free in-home water test or get an instant quote online.
| Des Moines at a glance | What the record shows |
|---|---|
| Who supplies the water | Des Moines Water Works, PWSID IA7727031, 246,055 people served (EPA SDWIS). Central Iowa Water Works, a regional water production authority formed on 11 April 2024 by twelve founding utilities, began operating on 1 January 2025 and now produces the water; Des Moines Water Works operates three treatment plants for CIWW and still handles your bill, your service line and your account |
| Where it comes from | The Raccoon River, the Des Moines River, and an infiltration gallery in Water Works Park at the Fleur Drive plant, plus radial collector wells on the Raccoon at L.D. McMullen and on the Des Moines River at Saylorville (2026 CIWW/DMWW water quality report) |
| Softened at the plant | Yes. The 2026 report describes “treatment processes of softening, filtration and disinfection” at Fleur Drive and L.D. McMullen, while Saylorville “utilizes ultra-filtration and reverse osmosis to soften and treat the water” |
| Published hardness | Less than 150 mg/L, or 8.76 grains per gallon — DMWW's stated target, per its own FAQ at dmww.com. That is a ceiling the utility aims for, not a reading taken at your kitchen sink |
Lime softening does exactly what the name says: lime and soda ash pull calcium and magnesium out of the water at the plant. What it does not do is finish the job. The clearest published proof of that in the whole metro comes from the utility next door — West Des Moines Water Works has stated that its raw water runs 370 milligrams of calcium carbonate per litre, “which is considered very hard,” and that softening drops it to 150 mg/L, “which is considered to be in the mid-range for hard.” A 60% reduction that still lands in the hard band.
Des Moines is in the same territory. At 8.76 grains, you will see less scale than a Cedar Rapids or a Dubuque homeowner does, and you will still see it: film on the shower glass, spots on dark dishes, a water heater that works a little harder every year. Our guide to how hard Iowa water actually is puts the number in context, and West Des Moines is worth reading if you want the utility's own words.
One honest caveat about that 8.76 figure: it is a target, not a measurement. The only municipality in the metro publishing an actual measured range for this water is Waukee, which tells residents to expect 7.5 to 8.5 grains per gallon. If you want a number for your address rather than for the system, that takes a test.
Des Moines has run a nitrate removal facility at Fleur Drive since 1992, using ion exchange, and DMWW states that finished water “has never exceeded the 10 ppm standard since nitrate removal was implemented in 1992.” That is a genuinely impressive record, and it is also why the numbers are worth reading closely.
The 2026 water quality report lists 2025 finished-water maximums of 9.17 mg/L at Fleur Drive (range 2.59–9.17), 9.04 mg/L at L.D. McMullen and 4.82 mg/L at Saylorville, against a 10 mg/L maximum contaminant level. Fleur Drive ran at 92% of the limit. Central Iowa Water Works banned all lawn watering on 13 June 2025 — “This is no longer a voluntary request” — after more than 55 straight days of nitrate removal, and issued a Stage 3 Water Warning again on 9 June 2026. As of 8 June 2026 the Raccoon River had been above 10 mg/L for 136 days and the Des Moines River for 117, and the removal facility had been running for roughly 95% of the year. It ran 193 days in the 2026 season before going offline on 23 July.
That is the record as the utility publishes it, and it is the reason so many Des Moines families put a reverse osmosis system under the kitchen sink rather than relying on a pitcher filter. Our explainer on nitrate in Iowa water and our note on the spring nitrate spike cover how the seasonal cycle works.
This is the part almost nobody in Des Moines knows. The 2026 report says the L.D. McMullen plant “serves customers in southern Des Moines, Waukee and parts of Warren Water District, Clive, Urbandale and West Des Moines,” Saylorville “serves water to residents north of Des Moines,” and every other area receives Fleur Drive water.
Fleur Drive and McMullen use lime softening. Saylorville uses ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis. Those are materially different finished waters, and DMWW does not publish a plant-by-plant hardness figure to quantify the gap. Sodium tells a similar story: Fleur Drive finished water measured 53.38 mg/L (range 14.35–53.38), the highest of the three plants. Des Moines uses free chlorine rather than chloramine, though DMWW's own brewing page notes that water it produces for Bondurant, Warren or Xenia Rural Water “most likely contains chloramines,” as may areas around Alleman and Elkhart. That single fact changes how a carbon filter should be specified. Johnston, sitting north of the city, is the clearest example of a town whose plant assignment is worth asking about.
Because the city already softens, most Des Moines installs start at the kitchen tap and work outward. Every price is all-in: equipment, installation, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty.
Looking at drinking water only? See our reverse osmosis guide for Des Moines. Already have a softener that's acting up? We also do water softener repair in Des Moines.
Annual maintenance is $199 a year for a tank-RO home and $249 a year for a tankless-RO home. A full diagnostic service call is $199; a known-issue trip is $99 plus the part. We offer 0% financing, and $100 off for military and first responders. Ask for the written breakdown before you schedule, or start one through our instant quote.
Plenty of Polk County acreages sit past the DMWW distribution boundary on private wells, and none of the treatment described above reaches them. No plant is removing nitrate, iron or bacteria before that water gets to the house, and there is no annual report to read. Our well water setup is a dual-tank system at $3,450, or $3,800 with tank RO, with UV disinfection at $700 and sediment pre-filtration at $500 when the test calls for them. On a well we fit a tank RO rather than a tankless unit, because high dissolved solids cost a tankless system its pressure. Free well water testing is the place to start.
We are licensed and insured, and our systems carry NSF/ANSI certifications — NSF/ANSI 44 for the softener components, NSF/ANSI 58 for reverse osmosis. Installation is handled by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind. Every price on this page is all-in and published, so the figure you read here is the figure on the paperwork. Distance and site conditions are the only things that can change it, and we tell you before you agree.
A published target tells you what the utility aims for across 246,000 people. It does not tell you what is arriving at your sink, which plant is feeding your pressure zone this week, or what your own plumbing has added along the way. We come to you, test hardness, iron and total dissolved solids at your kitchen sink, and hand you the readings with a written quote before you decide anything. Nitrate and bacteria need a certified lab, and we will point you to one. No charge, no obligation. Book your free in-home water test.
West Des Moines · Ankeny · Urbandale · Johnston · Altoona · Polk City · Ames · Polk County
Yes. The 2026 water quality report describes “treatment processes of softening, filtration and disinfection” at the Fleur Drive and L.D. McMullen plants, and says the Saylorville plant uses ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis to soften. DMWW states it aims to hold total hardness under 150 mg/L, or 8.76 grains per gallon.
Not by the EPA's scale. Softened is not the same as soft. West Des Moines Water Works publishes the clearest illustration in the metro: raw water at 370 mg/L drops to 150 mg/L after softening, which that utility itself describes as still “in the mid-range for hard.” At 8.76 grains you will see less scale than most of Iowa, not none.
The 2026 report lists a 2025 finished-water maximum of 9.17 mg/L at Fleur Drive, range 2.59 to 9.17, against a 10 mg/L maximum contaminant level. DMWW states finished water has never exceeded that standard since nitrate removal began in 1992. Central Iowa Water Works banned lawn watering in June 2025 and again in June 2026.
It can. The 2026 report assigns southern Des Moines, Waukee and parts of Clive, Urbandale, West Des Moines and Warren Water District to L.D. McMullen, areas north of Des Moines to Saylorville, and everywhere else to Fleur Drive. Saylorville softens with reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration; the other two use lime. No plant-by-plant hardness figure is published.
A standalone Kind Water Co reverse osmosis system is $800 for the tank model and $900 for the tankless, all-in, including equipment, installation, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty. Paired with a softener the package is $2,850. RO systems are certified to NSF/ANSI 58. Financing is 0%, with $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
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