Kind Water Co is a family-owned water treatment company in Marion, Iowa, serving Solon and Johnson County. Solon's water comes from three city wells up to 350 feet deep in the Silurian Aquifer, and the city lists only fluoridation and chlorination before distribution — no softening step, so whatever the wells deliver is what reaches your tap.
| Solon water at a glance | Details |
|---|---|
| Utility | Solon Water Department (Public Works, 1031 Stinocher St) |
| Water source | Three groundwater wells up to 350 feet deep into rock, drawing water from the Silurian Aquifer, per the City of Solon's Water Department page |
| Softened at the plant? | No municipal softening is listed — the city describes adding fluoride and chlorinating for disinfection before distribution |
| One distinguishing fact | Solon publishes a Mineral Analysis Report (2023) alongside its annual Consumer Confidence Report on the same Water Department page |
Per the City of Solon's Water Department page, Solon obtains its potable water from three groundwater wells up to 350 feet deep into rock, drawing water from the Silurian Aquifer. Water that moves through deep rock picks up dissolved calcium and magnesium on its way to the well, and that dissolved mineral load is what the industry calls hardness.
The city's listed treatment is fluoride, added before distribution, and chlorination for disinfection. Both are normal municipal steps, and neither one is a softening step. No municipal softening is documented for Solon, which puts it in a different position from its bigger neighbors: Cedar Rapids reports softening raw water of about 15.8 grains per gallon down to roughly 6.5–7 gpg at the tap, and the Iowa City Water Division reports softening about 17.5 gpg raw down to roughly 3 gpg. Solon does neither, so whatever the wells deliver is what runs through your water heater, your dishwasher, and your shower.
We are not going to invent a number for your address. Solon posts a Mineral Analysis Report (2023) on its Water Department page, and that document is the right place to start if you want the city's own figures. For context on how to read one: USGS classifies water as soft below 60 mg/L, moderately hard at 61–120, hard at 121–180, and very hard above 180 mg/L, and one grain per gallon equals 17.1 mg/L. You can compare what neighboring utilities report on our Iowa water hardness by city page.
Homeowners on unsoftened groundwater tend to describe the same short list: spots on glasses out of the dishwasher, a chalky film on shower doors and faucets, soap and shampoo that will not lather, laundry that comes out stiff, and scale building up inside the water heater. None of that is a safety issue — it is an aesthetic and appliance-wear issue, and it is one of the most common reasons families around Solon call us.
A properly sized water softener handles that part. If your complaint is about how the water tastes or how it smells at the kitchen tap rather than how it feels, that is a different fix — usually a reverse osmosis drinking water system under the sink, which is a polishing step for what you drink and cook with rather than a whole-home change.
This is a supply story, not a safety story, but it is Solon's story and it is worth saying plainly. In May 2025, Johnson County announced that a USGS hydrologist would present findings from a study simulating groundwater flow in the Silurian Aquifer from 2020 to 2045 at a county work session, looking at future groundwater availability across Johnson County and neighboring areas. In February 2026, KCRG reported that growth in North Liberty, Solon, and Tiffin is draining the aquifer faster than it is being replenished, and that the Silurian Aquifer feeds Solon and other Johnson County towns.
Nothing in that coverage says your tap water is unsafe, and we are not going to imply otherwise. What it does mean is that the equipment you put in your house should not waste the resource. We size and program metered, demand-initiated softeners that regenerate based on the water your household actually uses rather than on a clock, which keeps both salt and rinse water down. If you would rather not add salt at all and your only complaint is scale, a salt-free conditioner is an option on city water. We will tell you honestly which one fits what your test shows.
Every price below is all-in for Eastern Iowa: equipment, installation by a licensed local plumbing professional, sales tax, and our lifetime parts warranty. No add-ons at the door.
0% financing is available, and we take $100 off for military and first responders. If you want to see how these numbers compare across the corridor, we break it down on our water softener cost in Eastern Iowa page.
Plenty of homes around Solon — out toward Lake Macbride, Ely, Shueyville, and the county roads in between — are on private wells rather than city water, and private wells get no municipal treatment or monitoring at all. The Iowa DNR recommends testing private wells annually, and Iowa's Private Well Grants program funds free county-lab testing for private well owners, which Johnson County residents can request through the county.
Two things worth testing for beyond hardness and iron. First, bacteria, which is the standard annual check. Second, nitrate: Iowa State University points out that nitrate is odorless and tasteless, so you cannot detect it at the tap — it has to be measured. ISU notes that reverse osmosis, distillation, and anion exchange are the treatment methods that remove nitrate, and CDC notes that boiling does not remove chemical contaminants. Get the free lab numbers first; then we build to them. More detail is on our free well water testing in Iowa page and our well water treatment page.
We are family-owned, founded in 2021 by Ryan Brunton, and we are headquartered in Marion — a short drive from Solon, not a national call center. Every installation is performed by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind, and we are insured and bonded. Our warranty is lifetime on parts, five years on media, and one year on labor. We quote one number, in writing, before anything is installed.
We also tell people when they do not need equipment. If your test comes back and the honest answer is that an $800 under-sink RO solves your actual complaint, that is what we will recommend.
The test takes about 20 minutes at your kitchen sink. We measure what is actually coming out of your tap, walk you through the results, and give you a written price for the fix — with no obligation and no pressure. Call or text 319-319-6566, or email ryan@kindwaterco.com to get on the schedule.
Solon sits between two of our busiest service areas. We also serve Iowa City and North Liberty, plus Tiffin, Swisher, Shueyville, Ely, Mount Vernon, Cedar Rapids, and the rural Johnson and Linn County addresses in between.
No municipal softening is documented. The City of Solon's Water Department page lists fluoridation and chlorination as the treatment applied before distribution, with no softening step. That is different from Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, which both report softening at the plant, so Solon homes typically handle hardness at the house.
We will not publish a number we did not measure at your address. The city posts a Mineral Analysis Report (2023) on its Water Department page, which is the city's own published analysis. For a reading specific to your home, our in-home test is free. For reference, USGS calls water very hard above 180 mg/L, and 1 grain per gallon equals 17.1 mg/L.
A standard water softener is $2,500 installed, and a softener paired with a reverse osmosis drinking water system is $2,850. Those are all-in prices including equipment, installation by a licensed local plumbing professional, sales tax, and our lifetime parts warranty. XL sizing runs $2,800, or $3,150 with RO. 0% financing is available.
A fair question. USGS presented a Silurian Aquifer study at a Johnson County work session in May 2025, and KCRG reported in February 2026 that growth in North Liberty, Solon, and Tiffin is draining the aquifer faster than it is replenished. We install metered, demand-initiated softeners that regenerate on actual household use rather than a timer, which keeps salt and rinse water down. Salt-free conditioners are also an option.
Start with free lab numbers, not equipment. The Iowa DNR recommends testing private wells every year, and Iowa's Private Well Grants program covers free county-lab testing through Johnson County. Test for bacteria and nitrate at minimum — ISU notes nitrate is odorless and tasteless, so it has to be measured. Send us the results and we will size from there.
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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