Whole-Home Nitrate Removal

Whole-home nitrate removal, also called a whole-house nitrate filter, is a tank of nitrate-selective resin. It goes in after your softener and helps take nitrate out at every tap in your home. We install it on city water and private wells across Iowa and pair it with reverse osmosis at the kitchen sink for drinking and cooking water.

Kind Water Co is a family-owned Iowa water company, started in 2021 by Ryan Brunton. We're headquartered in Des Moines, with a second office in Cedar Rapids. Every install is handled by licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule and stand behind. Our name is our promise.

Why Iowa homes are adding nitrate removal

Nitrate keeps making Iowa news, for city water and private wells alike.

On city water

• Des Moines' nitrate removal plant ran a record 193 days in 2026, on all but 10 days from January 1 to July 23 (Little Village, July 2026).
• A 2026 tap study tested by the University of Iowa found nitrate changing from street to street across five Iowa cities (Iowa Public Radio, August 2026).
• Iowa's public water systems logged 36 nitrate violations in 2025, more than double the 14 in 2024, making nitrate the state's most common health-based violation (Iowa Capital Dispatch, July 2026).

On private wells

• About 300,000 Iowans drink from private wells that no agency is required to test (KCRG, January 2026).
• In a survey of more than 8,000 well users in nitrate-prone Iowa counties, about 4 in 10 said they drink their well water unfiltered and hadn't tested it in the past year (Iowa Public Radio, April 2026).
• Earlier private-well studies found elevated nitrate in 38.2% of wells sampled across Sioux, Cherokee, Ida and Cass counties (Iowa Environmental Council, April 2025).

Almost half of Iowa's crop acres are tile-drained, and nitrate that builds up in dry soil flushes into streams through tile lines and groundwater when heavy rain comes (Iowa Public Radio, August 2025). Your free in-home water test includes a nitrate screening reading, along with hardness, iron and TDS, right at your own kitchen sink.

How whole-home nitrate removal works

As water passes through the tank, the nitrate-selective resin trades chloride for nitrate. Nebraska Extension says this works on the same principle as a household softener. Ours uses ResinTech SIR-100-HP. It looks and works a lot like a water softener. Nitrate-selective means the resin is made to grab nitrate, which the resin in a standard softener doesn't do.

It recharges with regular softener salt, just like a water softener. ResinTech says this resin can't dump nitrate back into your water, even when it's due to recharge. ResinTech also screens it for low taste and odor.

Where it goes depends on your water. On city water, it's carbon first to take out chlorine, then your water softener, then the nitrate tank. On a private well, it goes after your softener and any iron or sediment filtering your well needs, as in our complete well water system. Either way, the nitrate tank sits where water enters your home, so every faucet, shower and appliance is covered. Already have a softener? Tell us when you book, and your free quote will fit your setup.

Whole-home or reverse osmosis? The most complete setup is both

The most complete setup is both: whole-home nitrate removal for every faucet, plus reverse osmosis at the kitchen sink for drinking and cooking water.

With whole-home nitrate removal, every faucet gets the same water, from the kitchen to the kids' bathroom sink.

Sized and maintained to do the job

With proper sizing and maintenance, our whole-home nitrate system can reduce up to 90% of nitrates at every tap in your house. We size the system to your home: how many people live there, how many bathrooms and how much water you use. A bigger family or more bathrooms means more water through the tank each day, so the tank has to match. That sizing happens at your free in-home water test, which includes a nitrate screening reading. Our Triple Tank Nitrate System + RO is $5,500 installed, and on a private well, any added well treatment is confirmed at that same test.

The Minnesota Department of Health notes that all home water treatment needs regular maintenance to work properly. Proper maintenance mostly means keeping salt in the tank, like a softener, and following the care steps we walk you through at install.

What doesn't remove nitrate?

• A standard water softener: it removes hardness, not nitrate (Nebraska Extension).
• Boiling: it makes nitrate more concentrated as water boils off (EPA).
• Pitcher, faucet and fridge filters: carbon doesn't remove nitrate (EPA WaterSense).
• A whole-house carbon filter: it takes out chlorine, but carbon doesn't remove nitrate (EPA WaterSense).

Reverse osmosis and nitrate-selective resin do, and we install both. See our Iowa nitrate guide for more on each method.

How it works with Kind Water Co

Here's what happens, from your first call to install day.

1. Book your free in-home water test. We check hardness, iron and TDS and take a nitrate screening reading at your kitchen sink.
2. We walk you through your numbers and your options: whole-home nitrate removal, reverse osmosis or both.
3. You get a free written quote, all-in: equipment, professional installation and taxes.
4. Licensed local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule and stand behind install it.

The water test and the quote are both free, with no obligation.

Book your free in-home water test

Book your free in-home water test, including a nitrate screening, and get a free quote for whole-home nitrate removal, reverse osmosis or both.

Call or text (515) 709-4674, open 24 hours. For Cedar Rapids / Eastern Iowa, call or text (319) 319-6566. Prefer to start online? Book a free water test or get an instant quote.

We install whole-home nitrate removal and reverse osmosis for homes across Iowa, from the Des Moines metro to the Cedar Rapids area, on city water and private wells. See our service areas.