The City of Grimes tells its own residents that Grimes water is already considered soft, and cautions that adding a home water softener could make it excessively soft. That is a utility arguing against our product, in writing. We think they are right, and the useful thing we can add is what the two plants are actually doing and where the water still varies.
| Grimes at a glance | What the record shows |
|---|---|
| Who supplies the water | City of Grimes Water Utility, PWSID IA7736011, 17,809 people served (EPA SDWIS). Grimes is both a Central Iowa Water Works founding member and a CIWW production site, listed separately as IA7736015, CIWW (GRIMES), a groundwater wholesaler |
| Where it comes from | Three shallow alluvial wells, two Jordan aquifer deep wells and one ASR well. The city's report names both “the sand and gravel of the Alluvial aquifer” and “the sandstone and dolomite of the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer” |
| Softened at the plant | Yes, by two methods at once. A 2001 lime softening plant at 1.7 MGD and a 2021 reverse osmosis plant running four membrane trains at up to 3.57 MGD, blended in an in-ground reservoir. CIWW's facilities page confirms “lime softening and reverse osmosis” |
| Published hardness | No numeric figure. The City states that Grimes water is already considered soft and warns that a home softener could make it excessively soft |
Grimes is one of two places in this metro where the honest answer to “should I get a water softener?” is usually no. The other is Altoona, which softens by ion exchange to 2 to 5 grains. Grimes gets there differently — by blending lime-softened water with reverse osmosis water — but arrives at the same place, and says so.
Over-softening is a real thing rather than a talking point. Water with essentially no hardness left feels slippery in the shower, tastes flat, and gives you nothing back for the salt you keep buying. If a company has quoted you a whole-home softener in Grimes without testing your water first, that quote deserves a second opinion, and we are happy to be the ones who tell you to keep your money.
Here is the part the city's soft-water message does not cover. Grimes runs a 2001 lime softening plant and a 2021 reverse osmosis plant and blends their output in an in-ground reservoir. The two produce chemically different water, and the blend shifts with demand and with which plant is carrying the load.
The Consumer Confidence Report shows it plainly: sodium measured 126 ppm at one entry point and 11.3 ppm at another. That is an eleven-fold spread inside one city's system. Lime softening does not add sodium the way ion exchange does, but soda ash and the blend chemistry do move the number, and reverse osmosis strips minerals broadly. Which entry point is feeding your street on a given week is not something the city publishes.
Nitrate, by contrast, is a non-issue here at 0.967 ppm. Grimes draws groundwater rather than river water, so it has no exposure to the Raccoon and Des Moines River nitrate cycle that put the metro under lawn-watering bans in June 2025 and June 2026. That alone separates Grimes from Des Moines and every city buying its water.
The Grimes shopping list is short and it starts at the kitchen sink. 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 for a tankless-RO home. Diagnostic calls run $199, or $99 for a known-issue trip plus the part. There is 0% financing, and $100 off for military and first responders. Ask for the written breakdown up front, or start one through our instant quote.
Rural Dallas and Polk County homes around Grimes draw the same alluvial sand and gravel the city's shallow wells tap, without a plant in between and without any softening at all. That is the opposite situation from a Grimes city address. 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 readings call for them. On a well we fit a tank RO rather than a tankless unit, since high dissolved solids cost a tankless system its pressure.
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. Installs are handled by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule and stand behind. Prices are published, all-in and the same for every household, and we would rather agree with your utility than argue with it.
Grimes is a city where a free test frequently ends with us recommending nothing more than a drinking-water system, and occasionally nothing at all. We come to you, measure hardness, sodium, iron and the rest at your kitchen sink, and leave the readings and a written quote with you regardless. Book your free in-home water test.
Urbandale · Johnston · Waukee · West Des Moines · Polk City · Polk County
The City of Grimes states that Grimes water is already considered soft, and cautions residents that adding a home water softener could make it excessively soft. The city softens at the plant two ways at once: a 2001 lime softening plant and a 2021 reverse osmosis plant, blended in an in-ground reservoir. No numeric hardness figure is published.
Usually not, and we will say so during the free test. Water with almost no hardness left feels slippery, tastes flat, and costs salt for no return. If you have been quoted a whole-home softener in Grimes without a water test first, get a second reading before signing. Reverse osmosis at the kitchen tap is the more common recommendation here.
Because two different plants feed one blended reservoir. The Consumer Confidence Report lists sodium at 126 ppm at one entry point and 11.3 ppm at another — an elevenfold spread inside a single system. Which entry point feeds a given street in a given week is not published, which is why a reading at your own tap is worth taking.
No. Grimes draws groundwater from alluvial and Jordan aquifer wells rather than river water, and its Consumer Confidence Report shows nitrate at 0.967 ppm. It has no exposure to the Raccoon and Des Moines River nitrate cycle that put Central Iowa Water Works customers under lawn-watering bans in June 2025 and June 2026.
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. RO systems are certified to NSF/ANSI 58. If a softener genuinely is warranted, it is $2,500 alone or $2,850 with RO. 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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