Nevada's water has come from two very different depths. The city once pumped from Cambrian-Ordovician wells between 2,630 and 3,342 feet deep. Today every active well is a shallow alluvial well, 87 to 91 feet down, and the water goes through a lime-softening plant that also runs granular activated carbon. Those two facts shape almost everything worth knowing about the water in a Nevada home.
| Nevada at a glance | What the record shows |
|---|---|
| Who supplies the water | Nevada Water Supply, PWSID IA8562044, 6,925 people served (EPA SDWIS); 2024 Census city estimate 7,082 |
| Where it comes from | Five active alluvial wells, #5 through #9, 87 to 91 feet deep. The four old Cambrian-Ordovician wells are plugged or not used, except Well #4, which is on standby (Iowa DNR Source Water Tracker) |
| Softened at the plant | Yes. EPA SDWIS lists lime softening, lime and recarbonation with carbon dioxide, ferric sulfate and aluminium polymer coagulants, and granular activated carbon at Treatment Plant #2 |
| Published hardness | No finished-water figure. The one hardness sample on record is 363 mg/L as calcium carbonate (21.2 grains per gallon) in raw water at Well #8 on 6 March 2008, before softening (Iowa DNR Drinking Water Portal) |
The Iowa DNR Source Water Tracker still lists all four of Nevada's deep wells. Well #3, the deepest at 3,342 feet, is plugged. Well #2, at 2,791 feet, is plugged too. Well #1, at 2,792 feet, is marked not used. Well #4, at 2,630 feet, is on standby, which means the city keeps it available rather than abandoning it. All four are logged in the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer.
The water Nevada actually pumps now comes from five alluvial wells, numbered #5 through #9, between 87 and 91 feet deep. Alluvial wells draw from sand and gravel laid down by streams, so they sit dozens of times closer to the surface than the old bedrock wells did. That is the water today's plant treats.
One piece of history is worth knowing, and it ends well. In 1990, before the city changed source, a sample from Nevada's distribution system measured 11.3 pCi/L of combined radium, above the 5 pCi/L federal limit. Since 2021, no combined radium reading from Nevada has been over 5. For contrast, Grinnell still draws from Cambrian-Ordovician wells 1,825 to 2,550 feet deep, has been over the combined radium limit every quarter since early 2024, and expects its new plant to be running in January 2027.
EPA SDWIS lists lime softening at Nevada's Treatment Plant #2, along with lime and recarbonation with carbon dioxide, ferric sulfate and aluminium polymer coagulants, and granular activated carbon. The city's first plant has been recorded as inactive since April 2001. Of the lime-softening plants in the central Iowa records we reviewed, which include Perry, Boone and Madrid, only Nevada's lists granular activated carbon.
The record does not say what the carbon is there for, and we won't guess. What it does tell a homeowner is that the water has already been through two kinds of treatment before it reaches the street, which narrows what a home system needs to do.
Two other readings help round out the picture. Sodium in Nevada's finished water measured 22 mg/L on 8 July 2025; sodium has no federal limit. The highest finished-water nitrate reading since 2021 is under 0.25 mg/L as nitrogen, against the 10 mg/L federal limit.
Lime softening lowers hardness a long way, but it rarely takes it to zero, and Nevada does not publish its finished number. The only hardness sample in the state database is that raw-water reading of 363 mg/L, or 21.2 grains per gallon, at Well #8 in March 2008. It is one sample, it is 18 years old, and it was taken before treatment, so it is not what comes out of your faucet.
For a sense of scale, Ames, the next city west, also lime-softens water from shallow wells. In August 2026 Ames reported its raw water at 413 ppm, or 24.13 grains, and its finished water at 153 ppm, or 8.94 grains, as monthly averages. Nevada's finished number could sit above or below that. The honest answer is that nobody has published it, so we measure it.
With softening and carbon upstream, a Nevada home is not starting from scratch. The questions are narrower. How many grains are left at your tap? Is there iron in your plumbing? What are the total dissolved solids? That is what our free in-home test measures: hardness, iron and TDS, at your own sink.
If your reading comes back on the low side, a softener is mostly about comfort: fewer spots on glass, softer laundry and slower scale in the water heater. If it comes back higher, a softener also protects appliances, and it earns its keep quickly. Drinking water is a separate question, and reverse osmosis at the kitchen tap is the direct way to lower the dissolved solids in the water you drink and cook with. Our signs you need a softener guide is a fair way to judge for yourself.
Every price below is all-in: equipment, installation, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty.
Annual service is $199 for a tank-RO home and $249 for a tankless-RO home. A diagnostic visit is $199, and a known-issue trip is $99 plus the part. Financing is 0%, and military and first responders take $100 off. Travel is free for the first 50 miles, then $1 a mile, and we quote it before we book. Ask for a written breakdown on our quote request page, or start with our instant quote.
Outside town, Story County homes on private wells have no lime plant and no carbon bed between the aquifer and the tap. Story County offers eligible well owners free testing for coliform bacteria, nitrate, arsenic and manganese, plus grants of up to $1,000 toward a well renovation, $500 for plugging a well and $300 for plugging a cistern. The grant money opens each July 1 and runs until it is gone. Of 70 private-well nitrate tests from Story County reported to Iowa DNR's tracking system from 2016 to 2020, 14 came back at or above 10 mg/L; those are owner-requested tests, not a survey of every well.
Our well water system is a dual-tank build at $3,450, or $3,800 with tank RO. A UV unit is $700 and a sediment pre-filter is $500, and we price both only after we see your results. On a well we always fit tank RO, not tankless, because high dissolved solids cost a tankless unit its pressure. Start with free well water testing in Iowa.
Kind Water Co is licensed and insured. Our softeners are built from NSF/ANSI 44 certified components, and our reverse osmosis systems are certified to NSF/ANSI 58. Installs are done by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind. Our prices are published and the same for every household, and where a town publishes no finished number, we measure yours instead of borrowing a neighbor's.
Nevada's plant softens and runs carbon, but the one hardness number on record is a raw sample from 2008. Your own tap is the only place to get a current one. We come to you, test hardness, iron and TDS at your kitchen sink, and leave you the readings and a written quote at no charge, whatever you decide. Book your free in-home water test or request a written quote.
Ames · Marshalltown · Ankeny · Des Moines · Story County
Nevada does not publish a finished-water hardness figure. The only hardness sample in the Iowa DNR Drinking Water Portal is raw water: 363 mg/L as calcium carbonate, or 21.2 grains per gallon, at Well #8 on 6 March 2008, before lime softening. What reaches your tap is softer than that, and our free in-home test tells you by how much.
Yes. EPA SDWIS lists lime softening at Treatment Plant #2 for PWSID IA8562044, together with lime and recarbonation with carbon dioxide, ferric sulfate and aluminium polymer coagulants, and granular activated carbon. The city’s first plant has been recorded as inactive since April 2001.
From five active alluvial wells, #5 through #9, 87 to 91 feet deep (Iowa DNR Source Water Tracker). The city’s four Cambrian-Ordovician wells, 2,630 to 3,342 feet deep, are plugged or not used, except Well #4 at 2,630 feet, which is kept on standby.
It depends on the grains left at your tap. Lime softening lowers hardness but rarely removes all of it, and Nevada does not publish its finished figure. We measure hardness, iron and TDS at your sink for free and size a softener to that number. Reverse osmosis for drinking water is a separate question, and the same visit answers it.
A Kind Water Co softener with whole-home filtration is $2,500 all-in, or $2,850 with reverse osmosis, including equipment, installation, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty. The XL system with RO is $3,150. Travel is free for the first 50 miles, then $1 a mile, quoted before we book. 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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