Norwalk has not treated a drop of its own water since 15 December 2010, the date EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System gives for the shutdown of the city's plant. Everything that reaches a Norwalk tap today arrives finished, through three separate connections to the regional system. So the most useful number for a Norwalk household is not a hardness figure — nobody publishes one — but the disinfection-byproduct reading that the city's own pipes produce.
| Norwalk at a glance | What the record shows |
|---|---|
| Who supplies the water | Norwalk Water Supply, PWSID IA9164078, 14,334 people served (EPA SDWIS). Norwalk is one of the member utilities of Central Iowa Water Works |
| Where it comes from | Three active purchase connections: two from Des Moines Water Works (IA7727031, one of them labelled “West”) and one from Central Iowa Water Works (IA7727033). SDWIS lists zero treatment processes for Norwalk itself |
| Softened at the plant | Upstream, not in Norwalk. The water is softened at the regional plants before it is sold to the city; Norwalk adds no treatment of its own |
| Published hardness | None for Norwalk. The Iowa DNR Drinking Water Portal returns “No data found” for the system, and the only related figure is the supplier's stated goal of under 150 mg/L |
| Disinfection byproducts | Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) 76 µg/L, range 60–110, from 2025 distribution-system monitoring (2026 regional water quality report) |
Norwalk has grown fast. The Census Bureau's 2024 estimate puts it at 15,396 people, up from a 2020 base of 12,798, a rise of about 20 percent in four years. None of that growth came with a water plant. SDWIS lists Norwalk's supply as three consecutive connections, recorded as “CC FROM DES MOINES WW”, “CC FROM DES MOINES (WEST)” and “CC FROM CIWW (DMWW)”, and holds no treatment record for the city at all: no softening, no filtration, no chlorine booster. Norwalk's job is storage, mains and delivery.
The old supply is still on paper. The Iowa DNR Source Water Tracker lists five city wells, from shallow alluvial wells 38 to 40.5 feet deep down to the Pennsylvanian at about 400 feet, and every one of them is marked “Not Used”. They record what Norwalk drank before 2010, not what it drinks now. Go looking for a Norwalk hardness, sodium or nitrate result in the state's sample database and you will not find one either; the portal returns “No data found” for the system on each of them.
The number that belongs to Norwalk alone comes from its distribution system. The 2026 regional water quality report — the Des Moines Water Works and CIWW report that Norwalk links as its own — lists Norwalk's total trihalomethanes at 76 µg/L in 2025 data, with individual results ranging from 60 to 110 µg/L. The maximum contaminant level is 80 µg/L, judged as a running annual average.
Two details keep that in proportion. The report defines “Level Found” as either the highest amount or an average, depending on the regulation, and for trihalomethanes it is the running average that decides compliance, so one 110 result on its own is not a violation. EPA's SDWIS shows no violations of any kind for Norwalk Water Supply. And the direction is steady: the previous report, covering 2024, listed Norwalk at 79 µg/L with a range of 62 to 102.
For comparison, the same 2026 table lists Urbandale at 70, Clive at 60, Ankeny at 49 and Bondurant at 38. Trihalomethanes form when the chlorine that disinfects the water meets naturally occurring organic matter, and they go on forming while water travels and sits in pipes. A town that buys its water receives it after part of that journey is already done, which is why a purchased-water city can post a different figure from the plant that made the water.
We report this as the utility reports it. Our free in-home test measures hardness, iron and total dissolved solids; it cannot tell you a trihalomethane level, which takes a certified laboratory, and we do not sell any of our systems as a trihalomethane treatment.
Chlorine is in Norwalk's water on purpose. The regional plants disinfect before the water leaves them, and a residual is kept in the mains so it holds up all the way out to the newest subdivision. Some households never notice it. Others find the smell at the shower or the taste in a glass of iced tea hard to live with.
That is a taste-and-odour problem, and carbon is the ordinary answer to chlorine taste and smell. It can go on the whole house as a carbon tank, so every tap and shower is covered, or sit inside a drinking-water system at the kitchen sink. Our note on chlorine taste and our whole-home carbon guide explain the difference between the two.
Because the regional plants soften before selling the water on, Norwalk starts well softer than a town on untreated well water. Des Moines Water Works says it strives to keep total hardness under 150 mg/L, about 8.76 grains per gallon. That is a goal stated in an undated FAQ, not a measured result, and not a reading from Norwalk.
Water in that neighbourhood is still hard on the USGS scale. You will see spotting on dark dishes, a film on shower glass and a slow build of scale in the water heater, just less of each than most of Iowa deals with. Plenty of Norwalk households choose a softener for exactly that reason; the right size comes from a reading at your own sink rather than a regional target. Our signs you need a softener guide covers what to look for.
Every price here is all-in: equipment, installation, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty.
Yearly maintenance is $199 for a tank-RO home and $249 for a tankless-RO home. Financing is 0%, and military and first responders get $100 off. Travel is free for the first 50 miles and $1 a mile beyond that, and it is quoted before anything is booked. Price it yourself with the instant quote.
Past the edge of the city's distribution system, rural Warren County homes run on private wells, and none of the regional treatment described above reaches them. Warren County runs a private-well testing program at no charge to the homeowner. Our well water system is a dual-tank build at $3,450, or $3,800 with tank RO, with sediment pre-filtration at $500 and UV at $700 when the readings point that way. On a well we fit tank RO, never tankless, because high dissolved solids cost a tankless unit its pressure. Start with free well water testing.
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 carried out by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule and stand behind. Our prices are published and the same for every household, and on a page like this one we would rather give you the utility's figure exactly as printed than dress it up.
Norwalk has no hardness number of its own, so the only figure worth sizing a system on is the one from your kitchen tap. We come to you, measure hardness, iron and TDS, and leave the readings and a written quote whatever you decide. Book your free in-home water test.
Indianola · West Des Moines · Des Moines · Urbandale · Polk County
Norwalk Water Supply, PWSID IA9164078, buys all of its water. EPA SDWIS lists three active connections, two from Des Moines Water Works and one from Central Iowa Water Works, and no treatment processes for the city itself. Norwalk's own plant was shut on 15 December 2010, and the five city wells still on the state list are all marked Not Used.
The 2026 regional water quality report lists Norwalk's total trihalomethanes at 76 µg/L in 2025 data, with individual results from 60 to 110 µg/L. The maximum contaminant level is 80 µg/L as a running annual average, so a single higher result is not a violation, and EPA SDWIS shows no violations for Norwalk. The previous year's report listed 79 µg/L.
No hardness figure is published for Norwalk, and the Iowa DNR Drinking Water Portal returns no hardness data for the system. The water is softened at the regional plants before Norwalk buys it, and Des Moines Water Works states a goal of keeping hardness under 150 mg/L, about 8.76 grains per gallon. That is a target, not a reading from a Norwalk tap.
No. Our free in-home test measures hardness, iron and total dissolved solids at your kitchen sink. A trihalomethane result needs a certified laboratory. For Norwalk, the published figure is the one in the regional water quality report, and we do not sell any of our systems as a trihalomethane treatment.
A Kind Water Co softener with carbon filtration is $2,500 all-in, including equipment, installation, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty, or $2,850 with reverse osmosis. The XL system with RO is $3,150. Financing is 0%, military and first responders get $100 off, and travel is free for the first 50 miles, then $1 a mile, quoted first.
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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