Home Water Treatment FAQs

Yes, city water in South Florida has to meet federal drinking water standards, and most utilities here report no violations. Safe to drink doesn't mean nothing is in it, though. Reports still list chloramine, disinfection byproducts and, at many utilities, low levels of PFAS. When lead turns up, it usually comes from older plumbing inside the home. Your utility publishes an annual water quality report every year by July 1, and a free water test shows what's coming out of your own tap.

The ones we see most are hardness, a chlorine or chloramine taste and smell, sulfur smells, and iron stains on well water. City reports also show disinfection byproducts (TTHM and HAA5) and, at many utilities, low levels of PFAS. Lead mostly comes from older plumbing inside homes. Your mix depends on whether you are on a well or city water, and on your utility.

Not necessarily. Tap water is regulated by the EPA, and bottled water is regulated by the FDA as a packaged food, with federal law requiring its standards to be at least as protective as the EPA's for tap water. Bottled water also costs far more per gallon. If you buy it because of taste or a specific worry such as lead or PFAS, filtering at the tap usually solves the same problem for less.

That smell is the disinfectant. Most South Florida utilities use chloramine, and several switch to free chlorine for a few weeks a year to clean their pipes, so the smell gets much stronger for a while. Palm Beach County Water Utilities scheduled its 2026 switches for January 2 to 22 and July 5 to 25, for example. A whole house carbon filter takes the smell out at every tap. Our page on why Florida water smells covers the other common odors.

Your utility's annual water quality report names the disinfectant, and most South Florida utilities use chloramine. You can also check with test strips that read both free and total chlorine: if total chlorine is high but free chlorine is close to zero, the water is chloraminated. The answer decides the filter: chloramine needs catalytic carbon, while plain chlorine comes out with ordinary carbon.

Yes, it is safe to drink: the EPA says water with chloramine that meets its standards is safe for drinking, cooking and bathing. People on kidney dialysis and anyone keeping fish do have to remove it. Boiling or leaving a jug out on the counter won't reliably get rid of it, because utilities use chloramine precisely since it lasts longer in the pipes than chlorine. A catalytic carbon filter removes it, either at one tap or for the whole house.

A rotten-egg or sulfur smell is hydrogen sulfide gas, which Florida groundwater often picks up underground, so it is most common on private wells. If you only smell it on the hot side, the cause is usually the magnesium rod in your water heater reacting with the water, and the supply itself is fine. Boiling won't fix it. On a well, aeration or an oxidizing filter sized from a test removes it, and a carbon filter handles light cases. Our page on why Florida water smells covers the other common odors.

At the low levels that cause a smell, hydrogen sulfide is mostly a nuisance, and showering in it is fine. The smell can also come with sulfur bacteria or iron in a well, though, so test the water before you decide it is harmless. Sulfur water also tarnishes silver and corrodes copper and brass fittings over time.

It depends on who supplies it. Many city plants soften the water before it reaches you: Boca Raton's city water measures 3.8 to 4.7 grains per gallon, and Pompano Beach says its water is typically 1 to 2 grains. Private wells skip that step. Jupiter's 2022 water master plan measured its raw shallow-aquifer water at 332 mg/L, about 19 grains per gallon, so well water can be several times harder than city water. A hardness test is the quickest way to know if you need a water softener.

Not added fluoride anymore. A Florida law that took effect July 1, 2025 stopped utilities from adding it, and utilities across Palm Beach and Broward stopped before that date. Water can still carry a small amount of natural fluoride, often around 0.1 to 0.2 mg/L in reports. If you want to remove it, reverse osmosis at the kitchen sink is the usual choice.

Often, at low levels. Palm Beach County Water Utilities detected 10 of 29 PFAS it tested for in 2025, with PFOS averaging 9.2 parts per trillion and PFOA 4.7. The EPA's 2024 limit for each of those two is 4.0 parts per trillion, and utilities have until 2029 to comply (a May 2026 EPA proposal would let them ask for two more years). Detected doesn't mean unsafe today, but if PFAS concerns you, an NSF/ANSI-certified reverse osmosis system is designed to reduce it in your drinking water.

Check your bills. If you pay a water utility for water use, you are on city water. If you don't, and you have a pressure tank and a pump in the garage or yard, you are on a private well. Some homes in western Palm Beach County and other rural areas use a well for irrigation and city water in the house, so check which one feeds your kitchen tap.

Each has trade-offs. City water is treated and tested for you, but it comes with a water bill and a chloramine taste. A well means no water bill, but you are responsible for testing it, maintaining the pump, and treating whatever the ground puts in it, which in Florida is often hardness, iron and sulfur. Either one can give you excellent water with the right treatment.

Many Florida wells give safe water, but no utility checks a private well, so you only know by testing. The CDC recommends testing a private well at least once a year for total coliform bacteria, nitrates, total dissolved solids and pH, and again after flooding or any change in taste, color or smell. Iron, sulfur and hardness are common here and affect taste and staining more than safety.

Boiling kills bacteria and other germs, so it works as a short-term fix after a positive bacteria test or a flood. It does nothing for chemicals, iron or hardness, and it actually concentrates nitrate: the EPA notes that water evaporates during boiling but the nitrate stays. For a lasting fix, treat the cause, usually with UV disinfection for bacteria or reverse osmosis for nitrate.

City water arrives disinfected and tested, so treatment is mostly about chloramine, hardness and drinking water. A private well has no utility checking it, and Florida wells often bring iron, hydrogen sulfide, high hardness and sometimes bacteria. Well systems are built after a test and often combine a sediment or iron filter, a softener and UV disinfection. Testing a well at least once a year is a good habit.

It depends on the problem you want to fix. A softener handles hardness: white scale, spotty glasses, soap that won't lather. A whole house carbon filter takes out chlorine and chloramine for showers and every tap. Reverse osmosis cleans the water you drink and cook with. Plenty of homes only need one of the three, and a test tells you which.

Not always. The whole house filter treats water for bathing and appliances, while reverse osmosis gives you cleaner drinking water at one faucet. If chloramine smell and dry skin bother you, start with the whole house filter. If your main worry is what you drink, reverse osmosis alone may be enough. Our whole house filtration page explains how the two work together.

It can be, depending on what is in your tap water. If your water meets federal standards, filtering mostly improves taste and smell. The health benefit comes from reducing a specific contaminant you are worried about, such as lead from older plumbing, PFAS or disinfection byproducts. That is why we test first: it shows whether a filter would change anything for your household.

For taste and chlorine, often yes. Most fridge filters and pitchers use a small carbon cartridge, which improves taste and odor but isn't designed to reduce dissolved solids the way a reverse osmosis membrane is. They also only work as well as the last cartridge change. Our fridge filter vs. reverse osmosis comparison goes through the differences.

Most standard filters can't. Carbon filters improve taste and remove chlorine but are not designed to disinfect. Reverse osmosis membranes hold back many microbes, but they are not meant for untreated water. If a test finds bacteria in a private well, the usual fix is UV disinfection after the filters, plus finding out how the bacteria got in.

Look at what each quote is based on. Ask for a test result from your own tap, the system size and why it fits your home, a written total price, what the warranty covers and for how long, and who does the service afterwards. National brands sell through local dealers, so service quality depends on the dealer near you.

Yes. Options include fixed monthly payments, same-as-cash plans that charge no interest if paid within the promotional period, and deferred billing with no payments for 90 days. Homeowners can also ask about the Florida PACE program, which needs no money down and is repaid through your property tax bill. The financing page has the details.

Mostly filters and salt. Cartridge filters are changed every 6 to 12 months, a reverse osmosis membrane lasts about 2 to 3 years, and a whole house carbon tank's media lasts years before it needs replacing. A salt-based softener also uses salt, which we deliver in Palm Beach County at $17 a 40-lb bag with no delivery fee through our salt delivery service.

Yes. It costs nothing, and you don't have to buy anything afterwards. We can test hardness and chlorine at your tap during a visit, or mail you a kit for lab analysis. You keep the results either way. Book a free water test online or call 561-352-9989.

The lab test covers more than 20 contaminants, including bacteria, heavy metals such as lead and arsenic, chemicals and total dissolved solids. The quick test at your tap covers hardness and chlorine, which is what most softener and filter decisions rest on. You get a written report with a plain recommendation.

Yes, if you're thinking about buying a system. The utility's annual report gives averages measured at the plant and around the system, not at your tap, and older plumbing in a home can add lead or copper. A test also gives your exact hardness, which is how a softener gets sized correctly.

Usually one visit. A water softener takes about 3 to 4 hours, a whole house filter is done in a single visit, and adding reverse osmosis or a second system adds time. If you call before noon, we can often test and install the same day across Palm Beach, Broward and Martin counties.

Usually yes, but which system depends on the plumbing. A whole house system needs access to the water line that feeds only your unit, plus your association's approval. In high-rises that line is often a shared riser, so under-sink reverse osmosis is the usual choice. Renters should get the landlord's OK first. Send us a photo of where the water comes in and we'll tell you what fits.

Yes, including systems another company installed. A diagnostic visit is $89, waived if we do the repair, and most repairs run $149 to $399. Every repair has a 90-day workmanship warranty. See water softener repair for softeners and water system repairs for filters, reverse osmosis and UV.

Plan on a filter change every 6 to 12 months for most systems. Sediment pre-filters can need changing every 3 to 6 months on well water, reverse osmosis membranes last about 2 to 3 years, and a UV bulb is replaced every 12 months even if it still lights. A filter that is overdue lets taste and odor come back and slowly cuts your water pressure, which are the usual signs it needs changing. We send reminders, and our filter replacement service can handle the changes for you.

Yes, if a filter stays in too long. Carbon removes the chlorine that would otherwise keep bacteria down, so an old cartridge can become a place for them to grow, especially in Florida heat. Changing cartridges on schedule prevents it, and after a long trip it helps to run the water for a few minutes before drinking.

Usually it's trapped air or fine carbon dust from the new cartridge, and both are harmless. Run the cold water for a few minutes until it clears; air makes water milky and clears from the bottom of the glass up, while carbon dust looks gray or black. If it doesn't clear after flushing, the cartridge may be seated wrong, so call us to check it.

Yes, across Palm Beach County. Bags are $17 each with no delivery fee, on a monthly, every-other-month or quarterly schedule, and you can pause or cancel anytime. Details are on our softener salt delivery page.

We're based in Delray Beach and work across Palm Beach, Broward, Martin and Miami-Dade counties, from Jupiter and Stuart down to Miami. The areas we serve page lists every town, with notes on each town's water.

New systems we install come with a 5-year warranty. Repairs carry a 90-day workmanship warranty, and replacement parts keep their maker's warranty on top of that. Ask for the written terms with your quote.

Yes. Water Wizards is licensed, bonded and fully insured, and we're members of the Water Quality Association and the Florida Water Quality Association. You can read more about our team.

Call 561-352-9989 or book a free water test online. Same-day appointments are often available if you call in the morning. We test first, recommend what your water needs, and give you a written price before any work starts.