Water Treatment
Services in
Tamarac, FL

West of State Road 7. The City pumps from 19 wells into the Biscayne Aquifer. At the plant, lime and coagulants go into a clarifier to take out part of the hardness, the water is run through granular filters, and chlorine and ammonia are added to form chloramine. Fluoride was added until July 2025, when Florida law ended the practice. The plant's administration building dates from 1969, and the City is replacing older filter units with new ones. In 2025 the Florida Department of Environmental Protection counted 14 potential contamination sources near the 19 wells, most rated low. Those ratings describe nearby land use, such as fuel tanks or dry cleaners, and say nothing by themselves about the water.

One West sample taken during routine bacteria testing on July 16, 2025 was positive for E. coli. The repeat sample three days later was clean, and the report states that no violation occurred. EPA's records list no health-based violations for either system; the entries there are late or missing monitoring reports.

East of NW 31st Avenue. Here the City is a reseller. The 2025 East report says the water came from Fort Lauderdale wells and went through either the Fiveash lime plant or the Peele-Dixie membrane plant. Since September 2026 Fort Lauderdale has been moving Fiveash's work to its new Prospect Lake plant, which uses nanofiltration and ion exchange; our Fort Lauderdale water page covers that change. The City also plans a $14 million main extension to connect the east side to its own western system, with completion targeted for fall 2027. Until then, East figures on this page reflect Fort Lauderdale's treatment.

Under EPA's UCMR 5 program, both systems sampled for 29 PFAS. Six were found in West water and nine in East water. PFOS led in both: about 10 ppt in the West and 16 to 17 ppt in the East. PFOA ran 4.4 to 5.7 ppt across both. EPA's 2024 rule sets 4 ppt for each, with compliance due in 2029 (EPA has proposed 2031). Neither system is in violation, since the standard doesn't apply yet, and the City hasn't published a PFAS treatment plan.

For scale, the same federal tests found PFOS at 32 and 37 ppt at the lime plant serving most of neighboring Lauderhill, while Fort Lauderdale's Peele-Dixie membrane plant found none. Water from Prospect Lake may test lower for East customers, but no results had been published when this page was written.

A whole-house carbon tank isn't designed to settle PFAS. Under-sink reverse osmosis is. Our five-stage under-sink unit, NSF/ANSI-certified, is designed to lower PFAS, lead, chromium-6 and byproducts in drinking and cooking water.

Neither report gives a hardness number. In the West, lime softening removes part of the calcium the aquifer adds; untreated Biscayne Aquifer water runs about 14 grains per gallon in U.S. Geological Survey sampling, so tap water lands somewhere below that. In the East, the answer depends on which Fort Lauderdale plant fed your street, and membrane-treated water is usually softer than lime-treated water. Hardness numbers quoted online for this area vary widely, and none of them come from either City report.

So we read grains per gallon at your kitchen tap first. If the reading and the white crust on your faucets agree that it's worth it, we size a softener from that reading (32,000 to 48,000 grains covers most houses and villas) and place carbon ahead of it so chloramine doesn't wear out the resin. Sizing and valve details are on our softener installation page.

Chloramine is what most people here notice day to day. Once a year the West system goes back to plain chlorine for about two weeks as routine maintenance; in 2026 that ran from March 24 to April 7, and the smell is sharper while it lasts. East customers follow Fort Lauderdale's schedule instead. Pitcher and refrigerator filters use standard carbon, which does little against chloramine.

A catalytic carbon tank where the main line enters the house takes out chloramine, the spring chlorine and most trihalomethanes for showers, laundry and every faucet. Byproducts were under their limits in both 2025 reports, so for many homes here the carbon tank is about taste, smell and skin rather than a health number. Tank sizing is explained on the whole-house water filtration page.

A city built for retirees. Developer Ken Behring started Tamarac in the early 1960s as an active-adult community of two-bedroom, low-maintenance homes. His first sections, Tamarac Lakes One and Two, went up east of State Road 7 in 1963; the Mainlands of Tamarac Lakes and the Woodlands followed to the west. Kings Point, off Nob Hill Road, alone holds about 4,900 condos, villas and coach homes built between 1983 and 2001. Census figures for 2024 count 32,610 housing units: 10,357 built in the 1970s and 8,171 in the 1980s, with a median build year of 1983. About 6,260 are attached single-family homes such as villas and townhouses, and about 9,200 are in buildings of 20 or more units.

Lead. Lead solder was banned in 1986, and roughly two-thirds of local homes are older than 1990. The City's tap results are low overall, but one West home was over the action level in 2023, which is why a single kitchen sample is worth taking. We take a first-draw sample from the kitchen tap after the water sits overnight and have a certified lab run it at no charge. The City's own advice for water that has sat for hours is to run the tap for 30 seconds to 2 minutes first.

Shared walls and shared pipes. In many villa rows and condo buildings one supply line serves several homes, and the association decides what can go on it. A whole-house tank works where your unit has its own line and the board approves. Under-sink RO stays inside your cabinet and handles the PFOS and lead questions either way.

Plan on roughly 20 minutes for the free water test at your kitchen sink. We check grains of hardness, chloramine level, total dissolved solids, pH and iron, then go through the West or East report with you for PFAS and byproducts, which only a certified lab can measure.

Most installs happen the same day you approve the quote: 2–4 hours for a single tank, 4–6 for a three-stage system. Afterward our own technicians handle filter and cartridge changes, and softener owners in 33309, 33319, 33320, 33321 and 33351 can sign up for softener salt delivery. When you call, our own office staff pick up.