Marion tap water is very hard — about 18 to 20 grains per gallon, according to The Gazette — because the city doesn't soften it before it reaches your faucet. Kind Water Co is a family-owned water treatment company headquartered right here in Marion, and we install whole-home softeners and reverse osmosis systems across town at one complete, installed price.
Marion's tap water measures around 18 to 20 grains per gallon, as reported by The Gazette in 2023. That works out to roughly 310–340 mg/L of dissolved calcium and magnesium — and the U.S. Geological Survey classifies anything above 180 mg/L as "very hard." Marion's water isn't just over that line; it's nearly double it.
You won't find a hardness number in the city's annual water quality report. Marion Water Department's report focuses on safety testing — the city ran more than 5,900 tests in 2024 — but hardness is a comfort-and-appliances issue rather than a safety one, so utilities aren't required to publish it. If you've compared notes with a friend in Cedar Rapids and wondered why your shower doors always seem to lose the fight, it isn't your cleaning. It's your water.
Blame geology, not the Water Department. According to Marion's 2024 water quality report, the city's primary source is the Jordan aquifer — a water-bearing sandstone formation reached by city wells 1,600 feet deep — supplemented by five Silurian aquifer wells roughly 500 feet deep. In 2024, 63% of Marion's water came from the Jordan aquifer and 37% from the Silurian.
Water that spends its life that far underground picks up a lot of dissolved rock on the way to your tap — mostly calcium and magnesium, the two minerals that make water "hard." The city filters iron from some wells and disinfects everything, but softening is left up to each household. That's the job of a whole-home water softener, certified to NSF/ANSI 44, the standard for cation-exchange softeners.
Here's the part that surprises people. Cross into Cedar Rapids and tap-water hardness drops by roughly two-thirds — not because the source water is gentler, but because Cedar Rapids lime-softens at the treatment plant, taking raw water from about 15.8 grains per gallon down to 6.5–7 (the city's own FAQ says residents typically see 6–9). Marion doesn't soften municipally, so homes on this side of the line get the full mineral load.
| Water system | Softened at the plant? | Hardness at the tap |
|---|---|---|
| Marion | No | 18–20 gpg (~310–340 mg/L), per The Gazette |
| Cedar Rapids | Yes — lime softening | 6–9 gpg, per the City of Cedar Rapids |
| USGS "very hard" threshold | — | Above 180 mg/L (about 10.5 gpg) |
Same metro, very different water. If you're on the other side of that line, our Cedar Rapids page covers what moderately hard water means for your home.
Nothing scary — just a daily parade of small annoyances. White crust on the faucets. Cloudy glasses straight out of the dishwasher. A film on the shower door that comes back two days after you scrub it. Laundry that feels stiff, soap that won't quite lather, and skin and hair that feel dry no matter which products you try. Inside your water heater and fixtures, those same minerals settle out as scale, which makes appliances work harder than they should.
A softener swaps the calcium and magnesium out before the water reaches anything you own, so the whole house feels the difference — softer towels, clearer glassware, less scrubbing. Many Marion families pair theirs with a reverse osmosis drinking water system at the kitchen sink; RO systems certified to NSF/ANSI 58 reduce total dissolved solids by at least 75% for crisp, clean-tasting drinking water and better coffee.
Our pricing is one complete installed number — equipment, installation by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind, a lifetime parts warranty, and taxes all included:
For context, national cost-data sites quote $656–$2,870 with an average around $1,476 for an installed softener — but those figures exclude tax and swing widely with equipment quality and labor. Our number is the whole story: no line-item surprises, and 0% financing if you'd rather not pay all at once. Military members and first responders get $100 off. Want a number for your exact house in about a minute? Try our instant quote.
Head toward Robins, Center Point, or Alburnett and city water gives way to private wells — usually hard, and often carrying iron too. Iron is an aesthetic issue under EPA secondary standards: at just 0.3 mg/L it starts leaving orange stains on tubs and laundry — a nuisance for fixtures and clothes, not a safety concern. The Iowa DNR recommends testing private wells every year for coliform bacteria and nitrate, and Linn County makes that easy — the county's Private Well Grant Program helps cover the cost of well water sampling. Call Linn County Public Health at 319-892-6000 to schedule.
Nitrate is worth including in that annual test simply because, as ISU Extension notes, it's odorless and tasteless — you can't judge it by the glass. Reverse osmosis is one of the treatment methods that removes it. For hardness and iron together, our well water treatment systems start at $3,450 — $3,800 with a tank reverse osmosis system for a dual-tank setup, sized after we test your well water at your kitchen sink — free.
Kind Water Co was founded in 2021 by Ryan Brunton and is headquartered right here in Marion — which means the 18-grain water on this page is the water our own family showers in and makes coffee with. We're not guessing about what your tap does to a dishwasher; we live with the same tap.
From the older homes near Uptown Marion to the new builds going up on the growing north side, the routine is the same: we test your water free, recommend only what your water actually needs, and schedule the install with licensed local plumbing professionals we vet and stand behind. Curious what's in your tap before we visit? See our Marion water report, or request a quote and we'll bring the test kit to you.
Yes — very hard. Marion tap water measures about 18 to 20 grains per gallon (roughly 310–340 mg/L), per The Gazette, and the U.S. Geological Survey classifies anything above 180 mg/L as "very hard." The city's annual water quality report doesn't publish a hardness figure because hardness is a comfort issue rather than a safety one, so households that want soft water treat it themselves.
Cedar Rapids softens at the treatment plant; Marion doesn't. Cedar Rapids uses lime softening to take raw water from about 15.8 grains per gallon down to the 6–9 range residents see at the tap. Marion delivers water from its deep Jordan and Silurian aquifer wells without municipal softening, so homes receive the full 18–20 grains — two to three times the hardness on the Cedar Rapids side of the line.
$2,500 for a whole-home softener, or $2,850 with a reverse osmosis drinking water system — complete installed prices that include equipment, installation by licensed local plumbing professionals, a lifetime parts warranty, and taxes. National cost-data sites quote $656–$2,870 (average $1,476), but those figures exclude tax and vary widely. We also offer 0% financing and $100 off for military and first responders.
Yes. Homes toward Robins, Center Point, and Alburnett on private wells usually deal with hardness plus iron, and our dual-tank well systems start at $3,450 — $3,800 with a tank reverse osmosis system installed. The Iowa DNR recommends testing private wells annually for coliform bacteria and nitrate, and Linn County's Private Well Grant Program helps cover the cost of sampling — call Linn County Public Health at 319-892-6000.
Yes — we service and repair all major water softener brands, whatever's on the tank. A parts and service call is $99, our $199-per-year annual care plan covers the checkup with reverse osmosis filter changes included to keep salt, filters, and checkups off your to-do list. If your current unit can be saved, we'll tell you so.
Yes. Hardness falls under EPA secondary standards — the aesthetic category that covers taste, staining, and scale rather than health. Softening is about protecting skin, laundry, fixtures, and appliances, not making water safe. For the crispest drinking water, many families add a reverse osmosis system at the kitchen sink; units certified to NSF/ANSI 58 reduce total dissolved solids by at least 75%.
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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