Mitchellville sits on the eastern edge of Polk County, off I-80, where the Census Bureau counts 2,657 of its 2,686 residents in Polk County and 29 across the line in Jasper. The town runs its own water from five shallow wells, the oldest drilled in 1939 and still in service. They feed a city plant built to take out iron and manganese. It doesn't soften, and for a household choosing equipment, that's the fact that matters most.
| Mitchellville at a glance | What the record shows |
|---|---|
| Who supplies the water | Mitchellville Water Supply, PWSID IA7751092, 2,515 people served (EPA SDWIS). The city owns its wells and its treatment plant |
| Where it comes from | Five active alluvial wells 50 to 67 feet deep: #1 (1939), #2 (1958), #3 (1977), #5 (February 2006) and #4 (October 2006) (Iowa DNR Source Water Tracker) |
| Softened at the plant | No. The plant lists forced-draft aeration, permanganate, gravity filtration through sand and anthracite, chlorination, fluoridation and a phosphate corrosion inhibitor. EPA files those steps under iron removal, manganese removal, disinfection and corrosion control, and none under softening (EPA SDWIS) |
| Published hardness | None. The city publishes no figure, and the Iowa DNR Drinking Water Portal returns no hardness result for this system |
Mitchellville has added wells over the decades rather than replacing them. The Iowa DNR's source-water tracker lists Well #1 from 1939 at 58 feet, Well #2 from 1958 at 61 feet and Well #3 from 1977 at 67 feet, all still active. Wells #5 and #4 followed in February and October 2006, at 64 and 50 feet. Three earlier wells from 1912 and 1920 are listed as not used. Every one of them draws from alluvial sand and gravel, the shallow water-bearing deposits laid down along a river valley. EPA's records retire the town's original treatment plant on 27 June 2007, the year after the two newest wells were drilled.
The raw water explains the plant. State samples from the raw lines of Wells #1, #2 and #3 in January 2003 measured 0.81, 0.67 and 0.5 mg/L of iron. The EPA's secondary standard for iron is 0.3 mg/L, a guideline for staining and taste rather than health. Water sampled after treatment the same day measured 0.04 mg/L (Iowa DNR).
Today's plant does that job in stages. Forced-draft aeration and permanganate turn dissolved iron and manganese into particles, gravity filters of sand and anthracite catch them, and chlorine, fluoride and a phosphate corrosion inhibitor go in before the water leaves.
Iron can still show up at a faucet. Special samples taken at taps around town between 2019 and 2024 ranged from under 0.02 to 0.55 mg/L of iron (Iowa DNR). When iron reaches a house it tints toilet tanks and white laundry, and it coats softener resin, so a Mitchellville softener should be specified with an iron reading beside the hardness. Our note on orange staining shows the rust-colored version, and our guide to black stains covers manganese's darker one.
Here's what the record doesn't have. Mitchellville publishes no hardness figure, and the Iowa DNR's Drinking Water Portal returns no hardness result for this system at all. The closest measurement is total dissolved solids: 375 mg/L at the treatment plant in a March 2021 state sample. Dissolved solids and hardness aren't the same test, so we won't turn that into a grain count for you.
What the record does settle is the process. Aeration, permanganate and filtration target iron and manganese. None of them is a softening step, and calcium and magnesium pass through. Sodium is low as well: 17.1 mg/L after treatment in August 2025, and 11.5 to 20.6 mg/L in every sample on file since 1991 (Iowa DNR).
The towns around Mitchellville show how wide the range runs. Altoona, the next city west, softens by ion exchange and says its water typically runs 2 to 5 grains per gallon. Des Moines Water Works, which supplies Des Moines, aims to keep hardness below 150 mg/L, about 8.8 grains per gallon. That's a goal rather than a tap reading, and it still falls in the U.S. Geological Survey's hard band of 121 to 180 mg/L. Elkhart, in northern Polk County, is unsoftened like Mitchellville, and its well samples measured 346 to 480 mg/L in 2020 and 2023. None of those numbers belongs to you. Move from Altoona to Mitchellville and you've gone from softened water to unsoftened water; the tap test tells you by how much.
With no softening at the plant, a whole-home softener is the system we expect to recommend most often here, sized from your hardness and iron readings. The prices below are all-in, covering equipment, installation, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty. The work is done by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind.
Repairs and service. We fix softeners we didn't install, other brands as well as our own. A diagnostic call is $199, a known-issue trip is $99 plus the part, and our repair guide lists the common failures. Yearly maintenance is $199 for a tank-RO home or $249 for tankless. We don't charge for the first 50 miles of travel; past that it's $1 a mile, and you'll see the figure before you say yes. Financing is 0%, and military and first responders save $100. For a number today, try the instant quote.
Past the edge of town, acreages draw private wells with no plant in between. Polk County's Environmental Health Services offers free drinking-well water testing in conjunction with the Iowa DNR, covering coliform bacteria, E. coli, nitrate, arsenic and manganese. If contamination turns up, the owner has to ask the county for a retest. The DNR's advice is a test at least once a year for coliform bacteria and nitrate, plus at least one arsenic test, and our free well water testing guide explains how to get one.
When a well needs hardness, iron or sediment handled, our well water system is a dual-tank build at $3,450, or $3,800 with a tank RO. Sediment filtration is $500, and supplemental UV (NSF/ANSI 55 Class B) is $700 for a well that has already tested safe. We use tank RO on wells rather than tankless, because high dissolved solids rob a tankless unit of pressure.
We're licensed and insured, our softeners use NSF/ANSI 44 certified components, and our reverse osmosis systems are certified to NSF/ANSI 58. Our prices are published and all-in. In a town with no hardness number on file, the right move is to test before anyone quotes a system, and that's how we work.
We'll come to your home, test hardness, iron and total dissolved solids (TDS) at the kitchen sink, and walk you through the readings with a written quote in hand, free. The result decides it: a softener, reverse osmosis, both or nothing. Bacteria, nitrate and arsenic need a certified lab instead, and we'll tell you where to send a sample. Request a quote or get an instant quote.
Altoona · Ankeny · Des Moines · Newton · Polk County
No. Mitchellville Water Supply's plant lists forced-draft aeration, permanganate, gravity filtration through sand and anthracite, chlorination, fluoridation and a phosphate inhibitor. EPA's records file those steps under iron removal, manganese removal, disinfection and corrosion control. None is a softening step, so calcium and magnesium aren't targeted at the plant.
No figure is published. The city publishes no hardness number, and the Iowa DNR Drinking Water Portal returns no hardness result for this system. A March 2021 state sample measured 375 mg/L of total dissolved solids at the plant, which isn't the same thing as hardness. Our free in-home test measures hardness, iron and TDS at your sink.
Because the wells carry it. In January 2003, raw water from Wells #1, #2 and #3 measured 0.81, 0.67 and 0.5 mg/L of iron, against EPA's 0.3 mg/L secondary standard for staining and taste. Water sampled after treatment the same day measured 0.04 mg/L. Aeration, permanganate and sand-and-anthracite filters do that work.
From five active alluvial wells 50 to 67 feet deep. Well #1 dates from 1939, #2 from 1958 and #3 from 1977, and Wells #4 and #5 were drilled in 2006. EPA's records retire the original treatment plant on 27 June 2007.
$2,500 all-in for a softener with whole-home carbon, or $2,850 with reverse osmosis at the kitchen sink. The XL build is $2,800, or $3,150 with RO. Prices include equipment, installation, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty. The first 50 miles of travel are free, then $1 a mile, quoted up front.
Every number on this page comes from a public record. Here is where to open each one yourself.
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