Story City sits on different ground from most of its neighbours. Its wells reach 261 to 286 feet into Mississippian bedrock, and the city softens that water with membrane filtration and reverse osmosis at its own plant. It also has something rare in this part of Iowa: a hardness reading taken after treatment rather than at a raw well. One sample from the water plant on 3 May 2021 read 120 mg/L, about 7.0 grains per gallon. Most of its neighbours have only raw-well numbers in the state database.
| Story City at a glance | What the record shows |
|---|---|
| Who supplies the water | Story City Water Dept, PWSID IA8584000, 3,357 people served (EPA SDWIS); 2024 Census city estimate 3,439 |
| Where it comes from | The city’s own wells in Mississippian bedrock, 261 to 286 feet deep (Iowa DNR Source Water Tracker) |
| Softened at the plant | Yes. Plant 02 lists membrane filtration, reverse osmosis and caustic soda pH adjustment under the softening objective, with greensand filtration for iron and chloramine disinfection. The former ion-exchange plant has been inactive since 20 February 2015 (EPA SDWIS) |
| Published hardness | 120 mg/L as calcium carbonate, about 7.0 grains per gallon, after treatment; a single sample from the water plant lab sink on 3 May 2021 (Iowa DNR Drinking Water Portal, analyte 84) |
Most towns around Story City pump shallow water from sand and gravel. Huxley’s active wells are 74 to 98 feet deep in alluvium, Nevada’s 87 to 91 feet, and Gilbert’s 133 to 157 feet in buried sand and gravel (Iowa DNR Source Water Tracker). Story City’s go down 261 to 286 feet into Mississippian rock. Of the Story County systems we checked, the only other one on that formation is its neighbour Roland, which draws from a Mississippian well about 245 feet deep.
Same rock, two different decisions. Roland does not soften: EPA SDWIS lists cascade aeration, gravity filtration and phosphate sequestration at its plant, and nothing under the softening objective. Story City softens everything at the plant before it reaches the mains. If you are house-hunting between the two, that is a real difference in what arrives at the water heater.
EPA SDWIS still carries a record for Story City’s older plant, Treatment Plant #1, whose softening process was ion exchange. That plant has been listed as inactive since 20 February 2015. The active plant, Plant 02, softens with membrane filtration and reverse osmosis, adjusts pH with caustic soda, removes iron on greensand filters and disinfects with chloramines. If you have read somewhere that Story City softens by ion exchange, that line comes from the retired plant.
The difference shows up in one number in particular. Ion exchange trades calcium and magnesium for sodium, so towns that soften that way tend to carry more sodium in their water. A membrane holds minerals back instead of swapping them. Story City’s latest sodium sample on the Iowa DNR portal read 13 mg/L on 7 February 2024, and its highest treated-water nitrate reading since 2021 was 0.3 mg/L as nitrogen, beside a federal maximum of 10 mg/L.
The 120 mg/L figure deserves careful handling. It is one sample, taken at the water plant’s lab sink after treatment on 3 May 2021 and labelled as water from Wells 2, 3 and 4. It is the only hardness row for Story City on the state portal, it is more than five years old, and it describes water leaving the plant rather than water that has run through your service line and water heater. Converted, it works out to about 7.0 grains per gallon.
On the U.S. Geological Survey scale, 120 mg/L is the top edge of moderately hard; one milligram more and it would be classed as hard. For comparison, the City of Ames reported a monthly average of 153 mg/L, or 8.94 grains, for its lime-softened water in August 2026. At seven grains you would still expect some film on shower glass and slow scale in a water heater, just not the heavy crust of an unsoftened town. Our Iowa water hardness by city guide puts that in wider context.
At seven grains a home softener has a smaller job than it would in an unsoftened town, and whether that job is worth doing is your call once you have seen your own number. Our free in-home test measures hardness, iron and total dissolved solids at your tap, and the readings stay with you. If your tap reads close to the plant sample and you are happy with it, reverse osmosis at the sink or a carbon stage may be the better spend. If it reads higher, or you are fighting spots on glassware and scale on fixtures, a softener sized to that reading is the fix. Our signs you need a softener guide is a fair checklist.
Story City disinfects with chloramines, a combination of chlorine and ammonia that lasts longer in the pipes than chlorine alone (EPA SDWIS lists chloramines at Plant 02). A disinfectant that holds up all the way to the tap is what a well-run system is meant to deliver, and it is also the usual reason people notice a taste or smell in their drinking water. That is a carbon question, not a softener one. Our softener-only unit has no carbon stage, so it will not change the taste; our standard system does have one, and on city water we can fit catalytic carbon, the grade we use for chloraminated supplies, for $150 more.
Prices are all-in, covering equipment, installation, taxes and a lifetime parts warranty.
Yearly maintenance is $199 for a home with tank RO and $249 with tankless RO. A diagnostic visit is $199, or $99 plus the part for a known-issue trip. We offer 0% financing and $100 off for military and first responders. The first 50 miles of travel are free and each mile after that is $1, quoted before anything is booked. Try the instant quote or request a written quote.
Farmhouses and acreages around Story City are on private wells, with no plant between the aquifer and the kitchen. Story County gives eligible well owners free testing for coliform bacteria, nitrate, arsenic and manganese, and grant money of up to $1,000 for a well renovation or up to $500 to plug a well that is no longer used; funds open every July 1 and are first come, first served. That county test and our hardness, iron and dissolved-solids test answer different questions, so it is worth doing both. For a well home we build a dual-tank well water system at $3,450, or $3,800 with tank RO, and price UV ($700) and sediment pre-filtration ($500) separately. On a well we always fit tank RO rather than tankless, because high dissolved solids cost a tankless unit its pressure. Our page on free well water testing in Iowa has the details.
Kind Water Co is licensed and insured, and we install and repair across the Ames area and the Des Moines metro. Every install is done by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind. Our softeners are built from NSF/ANSI 44 certified components and our reverse osmosis systems are certified to NSF/ANSI 58. Story City is unusual in having a treated-water number on record at all, but it is one sample from 2021, so we would still rather measure your tap than lean on it.
We come to the house, test hardness, iron and total dissolved solids at your tap, and leave the readings and a written quote with you at no cost, whatever you decide. Book your free in-home water test.
Ames · Nevada · Iowa Falls · Marshalltown · Ankeny · Story County
One Iowa DNR sample of treated water, taken at the water plant lab sink on 3 May 2021, read 120 mg/L as calcium carbonate, about 7.0 grains per gallon. It is the only hardness sample on record for Story City and it is more than five years old, so treat it as a guide. On the U.S. Geological Survey scale it sits at the top edge of moderately hard.
Yes. EPA SDWIS lists membrane filtration, reverse osmosis and caustic soda pH adjustment under the softening objective at Plant 02, along with greensand filtration for iron. The older ion-exchange plant has been listed as inactive since 20 February 2015.
From the city’s own wells in Mississippian bedrock, 261 to 286 feet deep (Iowa DNR Source Water Tracker). Most nearby towns draw from shallower alluvial or buried sand-and-gravel wells. Neighbouring Roland also uses a Mississippian well, but its plant does not soften.
It depends on your tap. At the plant’s seven grains a softener has a smaller job than in an unsoftened town, and your service line and water heater can change the number. Our free in-home test measures hardness, iron and total dissolved solids so you can decide on your own reading.
Story City disinfects with chloramines, a chlorine and ammonia combination that stays active in the pipes. That taste is a carbon question rather than a softener one. Our standard system includes a carbon stage, catalytic carbon is a $150 upgrade on city water, and a carbon-only tank is $1,150 or $1,450 catalytic.
Our standard system of softener, carbon filtration and reverse osmosis is $2,850 installed, all-in with taxes and a lifetime parts warranty. Without RO it is $2,500, a softener alone is $1,900, and standalone reverse osmosis is $800 with a tank or $900 tankless. The first 50 miles of travel are free, then $1 a mile, quoted before booking.
Every number on this page comes from a public record. Here is where to open each one yourself.
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