Donahue's water gets real treatment before it reaches you: state and federal records show potassium permanganate and manganese greensand filters pulling iron and manganese out of two deep Silurian wells. What the plant does not do is soften. No current hardness figure is published; the newest on record are state lab samples from Well #1 taken between 1961 and 1980. The plant has changed hands, too. Iowa American Water bought it from the city for $1.75 million, announced on 7 December 2023.
Iron removal at the plant is useful, but it leaves the calcium and magnesium alone, and the only hardness numbers on the public record for Donahue are more than 40 years old. So the right equipment for a Donahue house starts with a reading at your own tap rather than a guess. We install water softeners, whole-home filtration and reverse osmosis drinking-water systems here, and we service and repair the softeners and filters people already own, including brands we did not sell. Families on acreages outside town get complete well systems built for their own water. The installation itself is carried out by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind.
The free in-home water test is done at your kitchen sink. It measures hardness, iron and total dissolved solids, the three readings that decide whether you need a softener, what size, and how it should be programmed. The first 50 miles of travel cost nothing; past that it is $1 a mile, and we quote it before you agree to anything. When you are ready, book the free in-home water test, or get a ballpark from the instant quote.
| Donahue at a glance | What the record shows |
|---|---|
| Who supplies the water | Iowa American Water, Donahue system, PWSID IA8227045: 335 people and 123 service connections in EPA SDWIS. City-owned until the sale announced in December 2023, and separate from the company's Davenport-area river system. |
| Where it comes from | Two Silurian aquifer wells, both active: Donahue #1, drilled in 1959 to 407 feet, and Donahue #2, drilled in 1990 to 429 feet (Iowa DNR Source Water Tracker). |
| Softened at the plant? | No. EPA SDWIS lists permanganate, greensand filtration, phosphate sequestration and chlorination. Those steps target iron and manganese, not hardness. |
| Published hardness | No current figure. Neither Iowa American Water's 2025 water quality report nor the Iowa DNR sample database gives one. The Iowa DNR Municipal Water-Supply Inventory lists six lab samples from Well #1, taken from 1961 to 1980, at 309 to 372 mg/L as calcium carbonate (about 18 to 22 grains per gallon), the last 359 mg/L in January 1980. |
Iowa American Water announced the purchase of Donahue's water and wastewater systems on 7 December 2023, for $1.75 million, after the Iowa Utilities Board approved it on 20 July 2023. The company says the deal added 140 water customers and 118 wastewater customers, and that it had already been operating and maintaining the city's water treatment plant since 2020.
The state's inspection from that in-between period is worth knowing about because it shows the handover honestly. The Iowa DNR survey dated 16 December 2020 was still addressed to the city and noted the transfer being negotiated. It recorded no significant deficiencies. Its minor deficiencies were paperwork and site items: written sampling plans for the Groundwater Rule, disinfection byproducts and lead and copper, plus protecting a wellhead from physical damage.
EPA SDWIS lists no violations for IA8227045 since 2018. The single entry on file is a Lead and Copper Rule monitoring violation from 2000, category monitoring and reporting, flagged as not health-based, which returned to compliance in July 2004.
The 2025 water quality report states the water met state and federal requirements. It shows combined radium at 1.3 pCi/L from 2024 sampling against a limit of 5, lead not detected at the 90th percentile, and copper at a 90th percentile of 0.787 ppm, with a range of 0.230 to 1.160 ppm and none of the five homes above the 1.3 ppm action level. The 2020 survey had also noted lead service lines and lead goose necks in the distribution system, to be replaced as they are found. Questions about lead, copper or radium in your own home belong with a certified lab; our reverse osmosis systems are certified to NSF/ANSI 58 for total dissolved solids only.
The 2020 survey describes the treatment train in detail. Water from both wells is dosed with potassium permanganate, which oxidises dissolved iron and manganese so they can be caught. It then passes through three vertical pressure filters, each holding 18 inches of manganese greensand topped with 12 inches of anthracite. After filtration comes a 50/50 ortho and polyphosphate blend to keep remaining iron in solution and control corrosion, then chlorine. Storage is a 77,000-gallon standpipe, with two 75 gallon-per-minute variable-speed pumps and a 500 gallon-per-minute pump for high demand such as fire flow.
The results show up in the state's sample database. Manganese at the entry point measured 0.019 mg/L on 1 October 2024 and 0.033 mg/L on 6 October 2025, both under EPA's 0.05 mg/L aesthetic guideline; a November 2021 sample read 0.092 mg/L. Nitrate was below 0.01 mg/L in January 2026.
One reading note. Iowa American Water's 2025 report summarises Donahue's treatment as chlorine disinfection only. The federal treatment records and the state survey both list the filtration, so we describe what those records show.
This detail comes straight from the state inspection file. At the 2018 and 2020 inspections, field tests found Donahue's free chlorine residual was not stable. Donahue does not add ammonia, yet the DNR concluded the system appears to be disinfecting with chloramines formed from naturally occurring ammonia in the well water. As a result, compliance is measured on total chlorine, with a minimum of 1.5 mg/L, and a 2018 permit revision dropped the free chlorine monitoring requirement. At that time the state's database showed no ammonia sample for either well.
The 2025 report shows a distribution-system chlorine average of 2.1 ppm, ranging from 1.82 to 2.32. If the state's reading of the chemistry is right, that residual is chloramine rather than free chlorine, so mention it when you book a drinking-water quote.
Because the plant already filters for iron and manganese, softening and drinking water are the likely starting points in Donahue rather than iron treatment. The free test confirms which.
Every price is all-in: equipment, installation, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty. Annual maintenance is $199 a year for a tank-RO home and $249 a year for a tankless-RO home. A diagnostic service call is $199, and a known-issue trip is $99 plus the part. We offer 0% financing and $100 off for military and first responders.
If taste is the concern, given the chlorine residual described above, a reverse osmosis faucet at the kitchen sink is the drinking-water option to look at. Our reverse osmosis guide for the Quad Cities explains tank and tankless options, and if a softener you already own is misbehaving, start with our water softener repair guide.
Rural homes around Donahue that sit outside the 123 connections draw from their own wells, where there is no greensand filter, no chlorine and no one sampling unless the owner arranges it. In Scott County that sampling is free: the county Health Department administers Iowa's Grants to Counties program, collects private well samples at no cost for analysis by a state-certified laboratory, and advises testing for coliform bacteria and nitrate every year, after a pump or plumbing repair, and whenever a new well is drilled. The same program reimburses part of the cost of plugging an abandoned well or rehabilitating an old one. New wells are permitted and inspected by the department. Reach it at 563-326-8618, and see our free well water testing guide for Iowa.
After a clean lab result, a well dual-tank system handles hardness and iron on an acreage. UV is a supplemental NSF/ANSI 55 Class B unit for water that has already tested safe, never a remedy for a contaminated well.
With no hardness figure published since 1980, the first current number for your house is the one we take at your sink. We measure hardness, iron and total dissolved solids, then leave the readings and a written quote. The visit does not cover bacteria, nitrate, arsenic, lead or PFAS; those need a certified lab. Book the free in-home water test, or call or text 319-319-6566.
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No. EPA SDWIS and the Iowa DNR's 2020 sanitary survey show the plant uses potassium permanganate and manganese greensand filters to remove iron and manganese, then adds a phosphate blend and chlorine. None of that is softening. Neither Iowa American Water's 2025 report nor the Iowa DNR sample database publishes a current hardness figure; the newest on record are Iowa DNR inventory samples from Well #1, 309 to 372 mg/L between 1961 and 1980.
Iowa American Water. The company announced on 7 December 2023 that it had purchased the City of Donahue's water and wastewater systems for $1.75 million, following Iowa Utilities Board approval on 20 July 2023. It had operated the city's water treatment plant since 2020.
The Iowa DNR thinks it effectively does. At the 2018 and 2020 inspections free chlorine was not stable, and the DNR concluded the system appears to disinfect with chloramines formed from naturally occurring ammonia, even though Donahue adds none. Compliance is measured on total chlorine, with a 1.5 mg/L minimum.
Yes. We repair and maintain softeners, whole-home filters and reverse osmosis systems, including brands we did not sell. A diagnostic service call is $199, and a known-issue trip is $99 plus the part. New installations are done by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind.
Iowa American Water's 2025 report shows lead not detected at the 90th percentile and copper at a 90th percentile of 0.787 ppm, ranging from 0.230 to 1.160 ppm, with none of the five homes above the 1.3 ppm action level. Our free in-home test measures hardness, iron and total dissolved solids only, so lead and copper at your tap need a certified lab.
Every number on this page comes from a public record. Here is where to open each one yourself.
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