Linn County does not have one water story — it has a dozen. Cedar Rapids lime-softens river-alluvial water down to 6–9 grains per gallon. Marion sits at 18–20 grains unsoftened. Hiawatha publishes 14–20 and runs an iron removal plant. Center Point publishes 17. Robins buys Cedar Rapids water. Kind Water Co is based in Marion, and this page is the county laid out honestly, town by town.
Every figure below is published by the utility or a named source. Where a town publishes nothing, we say so rather than estimating.
| Community | Source | Softened at the plant? | Published hardness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar Rapids | Shallow alluvial wells along the Cedar River | Yes — lime softening ("The CRWD adds slaked lime to the water") | Raw about 15.8 gpg, treated to roughly 6.5–7 gpg; city FAQ describes finished water as 6–9 gpg (100–150 mg/L) |
| Marion | Municipal wells | No municipal softening documented | 18–20 gpg per The Gazette (Feb 2023); the city's own report publishes no hardness number |
| Hiawatha | Five deep wells, 350–530 ft, Silurian aquifer | No — iron removal plant, fluoride, poly-orthophosphate and chlorine only | 14–20 gpg, published in the 2025 report |
| Center Point | Two active wells, Silurian-Devonian and Cambrian-Ordovician, deepest 1,621 ft | No municipal softening found | 17 gpg (about 290 mg/L), published by the city |
| Robins | Purchased from the City of Cedar Rapids — no wells of its own | Yes, upstream at Cedar Rapids' plants | Whatever Cedar Rapids delivers: 6–9 gpg finished water |
| Ely | Two wells: 415 ft (Silurian, 1971) and 344 ft (Silurian/Ordovician, 1990) | No — well houses handle metering and chemical addition only | None published |
| Fairfax | Three Silurian wells: 410 ft (1959), 330 ft (1979), 530 ft (1999) | No treatment information published | None published |
| Mount Vernon | Two aquifers — Silurian (rated highly susceptible by Iowa DNR) and deeper Cambrian-Ordovician (low susceptibility) | No softening documented; sodium 5.8–6.9 ppm is consistent with unsoftened water | None published |
| Lisbon | Silurian dolomite wells, rated highly susceptible to surface contamination by Iowa DNR | No softening documented; sodium 10 ppm | None published |
| Palo | Two Silurian wells — Palo #1 (400 ft, drilled July 2008) and Palo #2 (425 ft, January 2012), both drilled after the 2008 Cedar River flood | No treatment information published | None published |
For scale: the U.S. Geological Survey calls water above 180 mg/L "very hard," 121–180 mg/L "hard," and 61–120 mg/L "moderately hard." One grain per gallon equals 17.1 mg/L, so 17 gpg is roughly 290 mg/L.
It comes down to where the well is drilled and what the plant does afterward. Cedar Rapids draws shallow alluvial water beside the river and spends real money softening it with lime. Marion, Hiawatha, Center Point and Ely draw from Silurian and deeper bedrock, where water has been dissolving calcium and magnesium out of dolomite for a very long time — and none of those plants soften.
That is why the gap between a Cedar Rapids tap at 6–9 grains and a Marion tap at 18–20 grains is not a rounding error. It is the difference between a slow film on the shower door and a water heater that scales up years early. It is also why a countywide claim like "Iowa has the hardest water in America" is useless: your street matters more than your state.
Two other Linn County facts worth knowing from the utilities' own reports. Hiawatha's 2025 report lists nitrate at 4.6 ppm in a single sample against a 10 ppm limit, and a copper 90th-percentile result of 1.1 ppm with two samples exceeding the 1.3 ppm action level. Mount Vernon and Lisbon both draw on Silurian dolomite that the Iowa DNR rated highly susceptible to surface contamination — a statement about how easily surface activity reaches the aquifer, not about current quality; both systems report results within limits.
Between the towns, Linn County runs on private wells — and no utility monitors, treats, or reports on any of them. Iowa State University estimates roughly 230,000 Iowans get their water from private wells.
The Iowa DNR recommends testing a private well every year for bacteria and nitrate, and Iowa's Private Well Grants program covers free county lab testing through your county environmental health office. That is the correct first move, before anyone quotes you equipment. Iowa State extension materials note that nitrate is odorless and tasteless and that reverse osmosis, distillation and anion exchange remove it, while the CDC notes boiling does not remove chemical contaminants — with nitrate, boiling concentrates it.
The three complaints we hear most from Linn County well owners are orange iron staining, a rotten-egg hydrogen sulfide smell, and hardness far past what a city-sized softener is built for. Those are three different problems. Start with our well water guide, free well testing in Iowa, nitrates in Iowa water, or well water treatment.
All prices are all-in — equipment, installation by a licensed plumbing professional, taxes, and a lifetime parts warranty.
0% financing; $100 off for military and first responders. Full breakdown on our Eastern Iowa cost page, and see Iowa water hardness by city for the statewide table.
City pages with local water data: Cedar Rapids, Marion, Hiawatha, Robins, Center Point, Ely, Fairfax, Mount Vernon, and Lisbon. We also serve Palo, Alburnett, Springville, Walford, Coggon and Central City, plus every acreage in between.
We are based in Marion, so this is our home county. We test your water at your own kitchen sink, show you the numbers, and leave a written price the same visit — no obligation, and a straight answer if the honest recommendation is to do nothing. Call or text 319-319-6566, email ryan@kindwaterco.com, or get an instant quote.
It depends on the town. Marion runs 18–20 grains per gallon unsoftened per The Gazette, Hiawatha publishes 14–20 gpg, and Center Point publishes 17 gpg. Cedar Rapids lime-softens to a finished 6–9 gpg, and Robins receives that same treated water. Ely, Fairfax, Mount Vernon, Lisbon and Palo publish no hardness figure at all.
Cedar Rapids does — it adds slaked lime specifically to reduce hardness minerals — and Robins receives that water by purchase. Hiawatha runs an iron removal plant but no softening. Marion, Center Point, Ely, Fairfax, Mount Vernon and Lisbon have no documented municipal softening, so hardness is handled house by house.
In Marion, Hiawatha or Center Point, published hardness of 14–20 grains per gallon makes it an easy call. In Cedar Rapids or Robins, at a finished 6–9 grains, it is a genuine judgment call and plenty of homes do fine with just a reverse osmosis system at the sink. On a private well, test first — the answer varies acreage to acreage.
Two options. Iowa's Private Well Grants program covers free county lab testing for private well owners through your county environmental health office — that is the one to use for bacteria and nitrate. And Kind Water Co tests hardness, iron and other everyday problems free at your kitchen sink, city water or well, with no obligation.
A softener is $2,500 all-in, $2,850 bundled with reverse osmosis, $2,800 for the XL and $3,150 for XL with RO. Reverse osmosis alone is $800 tank or $900 tankless. Well dual-tank systems are $3,450. Every price includes installation by a licensed plumbing professional, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty.
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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