Kind Water Co installs professional 7-stage reverse osmosis drinking water systems for homes across Eastern Iowa, Middle Tennessee, and Southern Illinois. An under-sink system with its own dedicated faucet reduces total dissolved solids for noticeably cleaner, better-tasting water — installed by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind, starting with a free in-home water test. You drink, cook, and brew coffee at one place every day — your kitchen sink — and this simple, lasting upgrade ends the cycle of hauling bottled water and refilling pitchers. Our name is our promise, and clean drinking water is the most personal place to keep it. If your home runs on a private well, this page is especially for you — nitrates and field chemicals are covered just below.
Nobody shops for “total dissolved solids” — you notice things at the sink. The five we hear about most:
What's causing it: Ice freezes from the outside in, pushing dissolved minerals and trapped air to the center, where they freeze cloudy. Eastern Iowa water, filtered through limestone bedrock and river-valley sand, carries plenty of dissolved calcium and magnesium.
How we fix it: The RO membrane cuts total dissolved solids before water reaches your icemaker, so cubes freeze clear.
What's causing it: Chlorine or chloramine, the disinfectants Eastern Iowa utilities rely on (the Quad Cities uses chloramines, per Iowa American Water) — hot brewing carries that faint pool taste straight into your cup.
How we fix it: Carbon stages handle chlorine taste and odor; the membrane clears dissolved solids. Coffee is where families notice.
What's causing it: Total dissolved solids — calcium, magnesium, sodium, chloride, sulfate. The EPA's secondary standards flag chloride and TDS right where taste shows up, and local groundwater soaks in limestone and dolomite — and even the Quad Cities' Mississippi River supply is delivered at 136–350 mg/L of hardness alone.
How we fix it: The membrane's home turf: NSF/ANSI 58, the U.S. RO standard, requires at least 75 percent TDS reduction.
What's causing it: Nitrate is odorless and tasteless (Iowa State University Extension) and comes from farm sources — USGS puts farmland at 90 percent or more of the Cedar River Basin. Our full nitrate guide is here.
How we fix it: Reverse osmosis — the treatment experts point to for nitrate; full farm-country story below.
What's causing it: When a drop of hard water dries, the water leaves and the minerals stay — that white film. Eastern Iowa water is genuinely hard: unsoftened Marion water runs 18–20 grains per gallon. Look up your city's hardness.
How we fix it: RO-faucet water has had those minerals reduced, so glasses dry clean. (Dishwasher spotting is whole-home hardness — a softener's job.)
Reverse osmosis is easier to picture than the name suggests. Your home's water pressure pushes water through a semipermeable membrane, a barrier with openings so tiny that water molecules pass through while far larger dissolved particles are left behind. That single step reduces total dissolved solids, the broad category that includes contaminants many homeowners worry about, such as nitrates and chromium. The result is noticeably cleaner, clearer water with a crisp, neutral taste. We keep our language honest here: reverse osmosis reduces contaminants very effectively, but no drinking water system removes everything 100 percent. What you'll taste and see, though, is a real, day-to-day difference.
A TDS meter is the one water check you can run yourself. When USGS sampled the Cedar Rapids well fields — the wells feeding the city's treatment plants — from 2017 to 2022, raw-water TDS ran about 250–370 mg/L, medians near 300. NSF/ANSI 58 requires at least 75 percent TDS reduction; on 300-TDS water, that lands at 75 or below. We bring a meter to every free in-home water test.
In Iowa farm country, reverse osmosis is the kitchen-tap treatment public-health experts point to for nitrate. Iowa State University Extension puts it plainly: nitrate “can be removed through some home treatment systems such as reverse osmosis,” and the CDC lists nitrate among the chemicals reverse osmosis systems can reduce. That matters here because nitrate has no taste or smell, and it can come from agricultural land, feedlots, and septic systems — the everyday landscape of eastern Iowa. If your home runs on a private well, that goes double: annual nitrate testing is the standard guidance for well owners, and a kitchen-tap reverse osmosis system is the treatment those same experts point to.
Field chemicals are the other half of the story, and activated carbon is the standard answer there: University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension notes that activated carbon filtration can effectively reduce pesticides such as atrazine. That pairing is exactly how our 7-stage system is built, with carbon stages working alongside the RO membrane so both technologies touch every glass. And one genuinely useful thing to know: boiling water doesn't help with nitrate — the CDC notes plainly that boiling will not remove chemicals from water.
Wondering about your own kitchen tap? Start with a free in-home water test, then read the free water report for your city — it shows what has actually been detected where you live.
Pour-through pitchers are convenient, but a small carbon filter mostly tackles taste and odor; it isn't reducing dissolved solids the way a membrane does, and the cartridges run out fast. Bottled water solves taste but trades it for ongoing cost, heavy cases to lug home, and a constant stream of plastic. A reverse osmosis system sits quietly under your counter and gives you better-than-bottled water on demand, for pennies a glass. The payoff shows up everywhere you use water you actually consume: coffee and tea taste cleaner, soups and rice cook without off-flavors, and ice comes out clear instead of cloudy. Most families notice the difference the first morning.
| How they compare | 7-stage reverse osmosis | Pitcher filter | Bottled water |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it does | Pushes water through a membrane to reduce total dissolved solids. The U.S. standard for RO systems, NSF/ANSI 58, requires at least 75% TDS reduction, per the EPA's WaterSense program. | A small carbon filter certified mainly for chlorine taste and odor (NSF/ANSI 42, the "aesthetic effects" standard). It doesn't reduce dissolved solids the way a membrane does. | Varies by brand and treatment method — and it isn't something you can check at your own tap. |
| Ongoing cost | Pennies a glass: your regular tap water plus roughly one filter set a year. | A new cartridge about every 40 gallons — roughly every 2 months, per Brita's own replacement guidance. | About $0.29 a bottle in a typical 24-pack, and roughly $400 a year per person at 64 oz a day, per the International Bottled Water Association. |
| Day-to-day effort | Turn on the dedicated faucet. One easy filter swap a year — we'll show you how, or just handle it. | Refill, wait, refill again — and remember the cartridge schedule. | Haul cases home, find somewhere to store them, and never run out. |
| Waste | No plastic — though in fairness, a typical under-sink RO system sends 5 gallons or more of rinse water down the drain for every gallon it makes, per the EPA's WaterSense program. | A used plastic cartridge in the trash every couple of months. | A steady stream of single-use plastic bottles. |
We install a 7-stage reverse osmosis system at the kitchen sink with its own dedicated faucet, so your drinking water stays separate and pristine. The multi-stage design pairs sediment and carbon pre-filtration to protect the membrane, the RO membrane itself for the heavy lifting, and final polishing stages that leave the water tasting fresh and ready to drink. Reverse osmosis is also the perfect partner to a whole-home water softener: the softener handles hardness and scale throughout the house, while the RO system perfects the water you drink and cook with. A tank-style system is $800 and tankless is $900 — all-in with licensed installation, lifetime parts warranty, and taxes included. Every install is handled by licensed, insured local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind, so it's done right and done to last.
Local guides: reverse osmosis in Des Moines and reverse osmosis in Ames.
On well water, order matters: sediment, iron, sulfur, and hardness get handled at the pressure tank first; RO finishes the drinking water at the sink. Sand or iron will clog a fine membrane early — a $500 sediment filter is cheap insurance. Iowa DNR recommends annual well testing for coliform and nitrate; free well water testing in Iowa makes that easy.
It doesn't soften the whole house. An under-sink RO perfects the kitchen tap only. Scale in the water heater, spotty dishes, stiff laundry — those are water softener jobs. Together they're our most popular install: softener plus RO, $2,850 all-in.
It doesn't treat the shower. RO makes water slowly and stores a few gallons — for drinking and cooking, not bathing or laundry.
It isn't a bacteria barrier by itself. If a well test shows coliform bacteria, the fix is disinfecting the well and adding whole-home UV ($700, all-in) — the technology built for that job. RO is the polish on already-safe water, never the safety plan.
Its membrane needs protection on well water. Sediment and iron foul fine membranes, so on wells we put pre-filtration ahead of it — see the well section above.
Reverse osmosis systems are low-maintenance by design. In most homes, the filters need replacing only about once a year, and the membrane itself lasts considerably longer. We'll size the system for your household, walk you through the easy filter swaps, and we're a phone call away whenever you'd rather we just handle it. Our coverage is built to last, too: lifetime parts, 5-year media, and 1-year labor, a warranty package we're proud to call best-in-class. And because clean water shouldn't wait on the budget, 0% financing is available so you can start drinking better water now.
We love reverse osmosis — but we won't pretend every home needs it. If your only complaint is the taste or smell of chlorine, a whole-home carbon filter may solve it for a lot less, no under-sink system required. And if your water report comes back clean and you genuinely like your water? Keep drinking it. We mean that. The typical in-home-pitch water company treats every tap like an emergency; we'd rather tell you the truth and earn your call when you actually need us. That's why our water test is free: we look at your numbers together, and we only recommend RO when it truly solves something for your family.
No — Kind Water Co tells Eastern Iowa homeowners that reverse osmosis isn't always necessary: NSF/ANSI 58-certified RO systems reduce dissolved solids by at least 75%, which matters for drinking water, but if chlorine taste is your only complaint, whole-home carbon filtration often fixes it for less. Our free water test shows which one your home actually needs.
Every home's water is a little different, so the smartest first step is to know exactly what's in yours. Kind Water Co offers a FREE in-home water test across Eastern Iowa, Middle Tennessee, and Southern Illinois. We'll test your water on the spot, explain what we find in plain language, and recommend whether reverse osmosis, a whole-home softener, or both is the right fit, with no pressure and no obligation. Call us at 319-319-6566, email ryan@kindwaterco.com, or request a free quote online to book your test. Family-owned since 2021, we'd be glad to help you taste the difference.
No — no drinking water system removes 100 percent of everything, and we keep it honest. Reverse osmosis does reduce total dissolved solids very effectively: the U.S. standard for RO systems, NSF/ANSI 58, requires at least 75 percent TDS reduction. What you'll notice is cleaner, clearer, better-tasting water. Kind Water Co's free in-home water test shows exactly what RO can do for your water.
For nitrate, yes — reverse osmosis is the home treatment public-health sources point to. Iowa State University Extension notes nitrate can be removed by home treatment systems such as reverse osmosis, and the CDC lists reverse osmosis among treatments for nitrate. Pesticides are usually a job for activated carbon: University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension says activated carbon filtration can effectively reduce pesticides such as atrazine. Our 7-stage system combines both, carbon stages plus the RO membrane. No system removes 100 percent of everything, which is why we always start with a free in-home water test.
A fraction of what your tap reads. NSF/ANSI 58 requires at least 75 percent TDS reduction — USGS found Cedar Rapids well-field raw water near 300 mg/L (2017–22 medians), where that works out to 75 or below at the RO faucet. We check before-and-after numbers at your free test.
In most homes, the reverse osmosis filters need replacing about once a year, and the membrane lasts considerably longer than that. It's a quick, simple swap. We'll show you how to do it yourself, or you can leave it to us, and your warranty includes 5-year media coverage to back it up.
They do different jobs and work beautifully together. A whole-home softener handles hardness and scale throughout your house, protecting fixtures, appliances, and water heaters, while a reverse osmosis system perfects the water you actually drink and cook with at the kitchen sink. Many of our customers install both. During your free water test we'll tell you honestly which setup makes sense for your home.
We serve Eastern Iowa as our primary area, along with Middle Tennessee and Southern Illinois. Every installation is performed by licensed, insured local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule, and stand behind, and 0% financing is available. Reach out at 319-319-6566 or ryan@kindwaterco.com to schedule your free in-home water test.
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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