Stage 1 · The health purchase

Whole-house carbon filtration.

This is the first thing your water touches when it enters your home. A full-size tank of catalytic carbon takes on the chemicals the city leaves in — disinfectants, disinfection byproducts, and the taste and odor that come with them — for every shower, faucet, and appliance in the house.

13″ × 54″ mineral tank 2.0 cu ft Calgon Centaur catalytic carbon Fleck 5800SXT backwashing valve

Book a Free Water Test Next: The Softener →

Whole-house catalytic carbon filtration tank — black 13×54 fiberglass mineral tank with a Fleck 5800SXT backwashing control valve

What it does

Built to strip the chemical load out, house-wide.

Catalytic carbon is not the carbon in a fridge cartridge. It is engineered to break down chloramine — the disinfectant Corpus Christi relies on — along with a long list of other compounds standard carbon struggles with.

✓Chloramine — Corpus Christi averages about 3.3 ppm. Catalytic carbon brings that down to trace levels before the water reaches a single tap.
✓Chlorine — takes free chlorine residual down to undetectable, and the taste and odor that come with it.
✓Trihalomethanes (THMs) — disinfection byproducts formed when chlorine reacts with organic matter in the water.
✓VOCs — volatile organic compounds from industrial and agricultural sources.
✓Pesticides & herbicides — pulls most of the known farm and lawn chemicals out to as close to zero as possible of the source water.
✓Long-chain PFAS — including PFOA and PFOS, the “forever chemicals” carbon is proven to grab.
✓Hydrogen sulfide — the rotten-egg smell, stopped at the source.
✓Taste & odor — water that smells and tastes like water, from every tap.

It also stands guard downstream

The carbon tank takes the chemical load for the whole house — and that includes protecting anything installed after it. Chlorine and chloramine destroy reverse-osmosis membranes, so the RO unit under your sink is fed by water the carbon tank has already treated. The carbon is what lets the RO do its job for years instead of months.

It cleans itself

About every 3 days, the Fleck 5800SXT valve automatically backwashes the bed — roughly 100 gallons a cycle — flushing out captured sediment and keeping the carbon loose and working. No cartridges to swap, nothing for you to remember. The media itself lasts about 2–3 years, and we track the schedule.

Why the size matters

Contact time is the whole point.

Carbon only works while water is touching it. A small cartridge gives the water about 12 seconds of contact. This tank gives it about 3 minutes. That difference — roughly fifteen times longer — is the difference between dampening a chemical and getting it down to trace levels. The size isn’t marketing. The size is the product.

Tap Line full-size carbon tank≈ 3 minutes of contact

Typical cartridge filter≈ 12 seconds of contact

Contact time at typical household flow. Chloramine in particular needs that time — it is far more stubborn than free chlorine, which is exactly why Corpus Christi uses it, and exactly why a cartridge can’t keep up.

Specifications

Tank	13″ × 54″ fiberglass mineral tank
Media	2.0 cu ft Calgon Centaur catalytic carbon
Control valve	Fleck 5800SXT, automatic backwashing
Backwash cycle	Automatic, about every 3 days (~100 gal/cycle)
Media life	About 2–3 years, depending on usage and incoming water
Placement	Point of entry — first stage, ahead of the softener

Straight talk: what it doesn’t do

It does not remove fluoride — that takes reverse osmosis.
It does not remove tannins or nitrates.
It does not soften water — hardness is the softener’s job.
It is not a microbiological barrier. It doesn’t sterilize water or remove bacteria and viruses.

We keep it honest: anybody who promises a carbon tank removes everything is selling you something. What we promise is what the test shows afterward — down to trace levels, below what any home test can pick up.

Complete the system

Carbon handles the chemicals. The other stages handle the rest.

Water softener tank with Fleck 5800SXT metered valve beside a black brine tank

Stage 2 · The comfort purchase

Water Softener & Brine Tank

Carbon doesn’t touch hardness. The softener takes out the calcium and magnesium behind scale, spots, and soap scum.

Explore the softener →

Under the sink · The drinking-water finish

Reverse Osmosis

For the dissolved stuff carbon can’t hold — fluoride, nitrates, lead, sodium — the RO finishes the job at the kitchen tap.

Explore reverse osmosis →

Book a free water test.

We’ll test your water at your home, show you the numbers, and tell you plainly what this tank would — and wouldn’t — do for it. No obligation, no pressure.

Call (361) 222-2198 Text to Book

Tap Line Water Solutions · Corpus Christi & the Coastal Bend

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Stage 2 · The comfort purchase

The water softener & brine tank.

Corpus Christi water averages about 13.8 grains per gallon — genuinely hard water, well past the “very hard” line. This is the stage that takes the hardness out, so your skin, laundry, dishes, and appliances stop paying for it.

10″ × 54″ mineral tank 1.5 cu ft 10% crosslink resin 48,000 grain capacity Fleck 5800SXT metered valve Brine tank included

Book a Free Water Test Next: Reverse Osmosis →

Water softener and brine tank — black 10×54 fiberglass mineral tank with a Fleck 5800SXT metered control valve, beside a black brine tank

What it does

It takes the hardness minerals out. Actually out.

Inside the tank, resin beads trade sodium ions for the calcium and magnesium in your water — a process called ion exchange. The hardness doesn’t get masked, filtered around, or “conditioned.” It gets removed, and the metered valve flushes it away on a regeneration cycle only when the resin actually needs it.

What soft water changes, day to day

✓No soap scum — that bathtub ring is calcium reacting with soap. Take out the calcium and the ring never forms.
✓Soap actually works — shampoo, body wash, and laundry detergent lather the way they’re supposed to, so you use less of all of it.
✓Spot-free dishes — glasses and silverware come out of the dishwasher without the white mineral film.
✓Softer laundry — clothes and towels rinse free of mineral residue, so they feel softer and last longer.
✓No scale buildup — your water heater, dishwasher, and washing machine stop growing the rock-like coating that kills efficiency and shortens their lives.
✓Better showers — skin and hair rinse clean instead of wearing a layer of mineral film.

Efficient by design

The Fleck 5800SXT is a metered, demand-initiated valve: it counts the gallons your family actually uses and regenerates only when the resin is spent. For a family of four that works out to about once a week, using roughly 50 gallons per cycle. Older timer-based softeners regenerate whether you need it or not — this one doesn’t waste the salt or the water.

On septic? Ask about potassium.

The brine tank runs on standard softener salt, and potassium chloride is available as a septic-friendly alternative if you’d rather keep sodium out of the equation. We’ll talk through which makes sense at your home during the site visit.

Specifications

Tank	10″ × 54″ fiberglass mineral tank
Resin	1.5 cu ft, 10% crosslink — the tougher resin grade, chosen because chloramine is hard on standard resin
Capacity	48,000 grain
Control valve	Fleck 5800SXT, metered (demand-initiated)
Regeneration	About weekly for a family of four (~50 gal/cycle), only when needed
Brine tank	Included — sodium chloride salt, or potassium chloride on request

Straight talk: what it doesn’t do

It does not remove fluoride or tannins.
It doesn’t touch chloramine or chlorine — that’s the carbon tank’s job, and the carbon runs first for a reason.
It treats hardness only. Dissolved contaminants like lead and nitrates are the reverse-osmosis unit’s territory.

Softening and filtering are two different jobs. Anybody selling one box that claims to do both is skipping one of them.

Complete the system

The softener is stage two of three.

Whole-house catalytic carbon filtration tank with Fleck 5800SXT valve

Stage 1 · The health purchase

Whole-House Carbon Filtration

Runs ahead of the softener, strips the chloramine and chemicals out — and protects this softener’s resin while it’s at it.

Explore the carbon tank →

Under the sink · The drinking-water finish

Reverse Osmosis

The final polish for drinking water — fluoride, nitrates, lead, and dissolved solids, handled at the kitchen tap.

Explore reverse osmosis →

Book a free water test.

We’ll test your water at your home and show you the hardness number for yourself. We install one standard system — the same 48,000-grain softener for every home. No obligation, no pressure.

Call (361) 222-2198 Text to Book

Tap Line Water Solutions · Corpus Christi & the Coastal Bend

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Under the sink · The drinking-water finish

Reverse osmosis, finished at the tap.

Carbon and softening handle the water you bathe and wash in. The Waterdrop G3P600 handles the water you drink — a tankless reverse-osmosis unit under the kitchen sink that takes out the dissolved material the other two stages can’t touch.

Waterdrop G3P600 600 GPD tankless NSF/ANSI 42, 58 & 372 certified 2:1 pure-to-drain Smart faucet live TDS readout

Book a Free Water Test Start at Stage 1: Carbon →

Waterdrop G3P600 tankless reverse osmosis unit with its smart faucet, which shows a live TDS reading

What it does

Everything dissolved that the other stages can’t hold.

Reverse osmosis pushes water through a membrane fine enough to reject dissolved solids — the category of contaminants that passes straight through carbon and isn’t hardness, so the softener ignores it too.

✓Fluoride — the one Corpus customers ask about most, and the one whole-house carbon honestly can’t handle. The RO can.
✓Nitrates — dissolved and invisible; the membrane rejects them.
✓Lead & heavy metals — down to trace levels at the drinking tap.
✓Sodium — including anything the softener added upstream.
✓Total dissolved solids (TDS) — the catch-all measure of everything dissolved in your water.
✓Short-chain PFAS — the smaller “forever chemicals” that can slip past the carbon tank; the membrane catches what carbon misses.

Proof, every time you pour a glass

The smart faucet shows a live TDS reading. Watch your tap water’s number drop from around 400 to around 20 — no test strips, no taking our word for it.

~400Tap water TDS

~20After the G3P600

Fed by the carbon tank — on purpose

The G3P600 is fed by water the whole-house carbon tank has already treated, and that order matters: chlorine and chloramine destroy RO membranes. The whole-house carbon strips them out first, which is what lets this membrane do its job for its full service life.

Specifications

Unit	Waterdrop G3P600, tankless under-sink RO
Output	600 gallons per day — no storage tank, no waiting on a tank to refill
Certification	NSF/ANSI 42, 58 & 372 certified
Efficiency	2:1 pure-to-drain ratio — two cups of pure water for every cup sent to drain
Faucet	Dedicated smart faucet with a live TDS readout
Feed line	Whole-house carbon-treated water (membrane protection — see above)

Straight talk: the practical notes

It needs a power outlet under the sink — tankless units run a pump. We check for one at the site visit.
Replacement filters run about $145 a year. That’s the real ongoing cost, and you should know it up front.
The filters are proprietary to Waterdrop — generic cartridges don’t fit. We’d rather tell you now than have you find out at the first filter change.
It treats the drinking tap only. Showers, laundry, and appliances are the carbon and softener’s territory.

Complete the system

The RO is the finish. These are the stages ahead of it.

Stage 1 · The health purchase

Whole-House Carbon Filtration

Takes the chloramine and chemicals out house-wide — and keeps them off this RO’s membrane.

Explore the carbon tank →

Stage 2 · The comfort purchase

Water Softener & Brine Tank

Takes out the hardness behind scale, spots, and soap scum, everywhere except the drinking line.

Explore the softener →

Book a free water test.

We’ll test your water at your home and show you your TDS number — then you’ll know exactly what an RO would do to it. No obligation, no pressure.

Call (361) 222-2198 Text to Book

Tap Line Water Solutions · Corpus Christi & the Coastal Bend

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What’s in Corpus water

Disinfected at the plant. Finished at your home.

City treatment makes public water possible. But the disinfectant residual and dissolved hardness minerals remain in the water that reaches your family. Tap Line adds the final treatment barrier at the point of entry.

13.8Grains / Gallon

That’s about 236 mg/L of hardness. For reference, anything over 10.5 gpg is classified Very Hard by the U.S. Geological Survey scale.

What hardness does

Deposits scale inside pipes and on heating elements. A water heater with scale can lose efficiency month after month.

Why catalytic carbon first

Corpus uses chloramines — chlorine + ammonia. Catalytic carbon is made to break them down where standard carbon falls short.

Quick check — your home’s daily hardness load

Aerial view of Corpus Christi bayfront, marina, and Harbor Bridge at golden hour — **Serving the Coastal Bend.** Corpus Christi, Calallen, Flour Bluff, Padre Island, Portland, Ingleside, Aransas Pass, and Rockport. If you’re on city water nearby, our one standard system covers your home — call and we’ll confirm the install details.

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Whole-home water protection

Cleaner water should start before the tap.

Corpus Christi disinfects with chloramine, and local water averages 13.8 grains per gallon — very hard. Our system takes the disinfectant chemicals out first, then softens the water — treated water at every tap in the house, from showers and bathroom faucets to laundry, appliances, and the kitchen.

Call for a Quote Text Us See As Close to Zero ↓

✓ Chloramine handled at every tap ✓ Hardness removed from softened lines ✓ Licensed plumber installation

Two-stage whole-home water treatment — catalytic carbon tank beside a water softener and brine tank, each fitted with a Fleck 5800SXT control valve

13.8 gpgCorpus Christi
Very Hard Water

2 stagesFilter first
Soften second

A barrier at the point of entry

Treat the water before your family uses it.

Every gallon first passes through catalytic carbon, then continues through the softener for calcium and magnesium removal — treated water at every tap in the house.

1

Catalytic Carbon Filtration

A full-size media tank gives water the contact time needed to take chloramine, chlorine, unpleasant taste and odor, and many carbon-adsorbable organic compounds down to trace levels before they circulate through the home.

Chloramine and chlorine residual — down to undetectable
Certain VOCs and trace organic compounds — pulled out

See the carbon tank, up close →

2

Metered Water Softening

Ion-exchange resin removes calcium and magnesium from the water—the dissolved minerals behind scale, soap scum, stiff laundry, and residue on skin, hair, fixtures, and appliances.

Removes hardness minerals rather than masking them
Helps soap and shampoo rinse away cleanly
Metered regeneration uses salt only when needed

See the softener & brine tank →

* How far down it goes depends on the specific compound, incoming concentration, water chemistry, flow rate, media volume, and media age. We install one standard system in every home and explain exactly what its media is designed to take out. For a very large home, we’ll step the tanks up. Dedicated reverse osmosis is the right add-on for drinking-water contaminants that carbon and softening do not address.

How it works

From call to soft water in three steps.

01

Assess the home

We check the incoming line, water pressure, drain access, and equipment location so our one standard system installs cleanly. For a very large home, we’ll step the tanks up to match the flow.

02

Install the barrier

A licensed plumber connects carbon first and the softener second, then verifies bypasses, pressure, drainage, programming, and leaks.

03

Maintain performance

We show you how to add salt, check the display, and know when carbon media is due. Treatment only protects as designed when it is maintained.

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What treatment changes

What we bring as close to zero as possible

Point-of-entry carbon treatment reaches the entire indoor supply. Every tap in the house — showers, baths, laundry, appliances, and the kitchen — receives both filtration and softening.

What we target before it reaches you

Cl

Chloramine & chlorine

Take the disinfectant residual out before it reaches your home.

VOC

Certain organic chemicals

Catalytic carbon pulls many taste-, odor-, and VOC-related compounds out.

Ca

Calcium & magnesium

Ion exchange removes the minerals that make Corpus water very hard.

H₂O

Unpleasant taste & odor

Cleaner-tasting water from the shower, bathroom sink, laundry, and kitchen.

Catalytic carbon stage

Disinfectants and organics, out before they reach a tap.

Full-size media delivers far more contact time than a small cartridge, helping water taste and smell cleaner throughout the home.

✓Chloramine — the chlorine-and-ammonia disinfectant used for lasting protection in city distribution lines
✓Free chlorine — including residual taste and odor
✓Certain volatile organic compounds — how far down it goes varies by compound and media contact time
✓Many carbon-adsorbable trace organics — including some pharmaceutical residues, depending on the specific compound*
✓Fine suspended material — captured within the media bed rather than circulating to fixtures

Ask About Your Water Text for an Assessment

* We do not claim that carbon removes every chemical, pharmaceutical, microorganism, fluoride, or dissolved solid. Performance depends on the media, flow, incoming water, and maintenance. We’ll explain the limits before recommending equipment.

Why softening belongs in the plan

Hardness is not the same as contamination, but it changes how water behaves against skin, hair, plumbing, and appliances.

Remove	What changes
Calcium	Less scale on fixtures and heating elements
Magnesium	Less soap curd and mineral residue
13.8 gpg hardness	Soap rinses cleaner; laundry and dishes lose the hard-water film

Built as two separate stages

Carbon and softening do different jobs. Separate tanks provide dedicated media volume for each job, preserve service flow, and let each stage be maintained on its own schedule.

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Questions

Straight answers.

Do I really need both carbon and a softener?

For Corpus city water, yes — they do different jobs. Catalytic carbon handles chloramines, chlorine, taste, and odor. The softener removes hardness minerals (calcium/magnesium). Carbon first also protects the softener resin from chloramine damage.

Why Fleck? Can’t I just buy a softener online?

You can — but the valve is the part that matters long-term. Genuine Fleck 5800SXT systems have local parts, service documentation, and plumbers who know them. A no-name valve that fails in year two can turn a “deal” into a full replacement.

How often does the carbon need changing?

Plan on roughly a 2–3 year media cycle, depending on household usage, incoming chloramine, flow rate, and media volume. A system that has exhausted its carbon may still pass water normally, so the service interval matters.

Does this make city water “safe”?

Corpus Christi’s utility disinfects and monitors public water under regulatory standards. Whole-home treatment adds another barrier at your property: it takes specific substances the equipment is designed for down to trace levels, and takes hardness minerals out. We do not use a blanket “removes everything” claim.

What doesn’t the whole-home system remove?

Carbon and softening do not remove every dissolved contaminant. They are not the right technologies for fluoride, nitrate, arsenic, or all microorganisms, and performance for trace organics varies by compound. Under-sink reverse osmosis adds a separate drinking-water barrier for many dissolved contaminants.

Call for a quote on our standard system.

We sell one standard system — the same full-size carbon tank and 48,000-grain softener for every home, so there’s no sizing guesswork. Call or text with your ZIP to get started. We’ll check the install details, explain what each stage can and cannot take down, and confirm the standard setup fits your home. Own a very large home? We’ll step the tanks up.

Call (361) 222-2198 Text Your Info

Service area: Corpus Christi • Portland • Ingleside • Aransas Pass • Rockport • Calallen • Flour Bluff • Padre Island & nearby Coastal Bend communities

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About

The water entering your home should be as clean, pure, and comfortable as possible.

Tap Line Water Solutions is a local water treatment company serving the Coastal Bend. We install whole-house catalytic carbon filtration and water softening on name-brand Fleck valves — the same valves you’ll find at supply houses all over town, so any plumber can service what we install. No proprietary boxes. No lock-in. No black-box cartridges you can only buy from us.

Our whole pitch fits in two sentences: free in-home water test with every quote. If your water’s fine, we’ll tell you. Your family deserves nothing less. Let Tap Line Water Solutions provide it.

Call (361) 222-2198 Text Us

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Contact

Call or text. A person answers.

(361) 222-2198 — call or text, Mon–Sat 8:00 AM–6:00 PM. Free in-home water test with every quote. We’ll test your water at the kitchen table, show you exactly what’s in it, and tell you what it needs — or that it’s fine. No pressure, no mystery box. Serving Corpus Christi, Portland, Taft, Ingleside, Aransas Pass, Rockport, Fulton, Sinton, Odem, Gregory, Robstown, Calallen, Kingsville, Mathis, and the surrounding Coastal Bend.

Prefer email? taplinewatersolutions@protonmail.com — a person reads it, and we answer from the same address.

Call (361) 222-2198 Text Us

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Service Areas

We serve your town. Your town’s water is different.

Every water system disinfects differently, and the chemistry your filter has to handle changes town by town. Here’s ours, on paper:

Corpus Christi

Disinfected with chloramine. Our catalytic carbon breaks chloramine apart on contact — down to below what any home test can pick up. Hardness runs about 13.8 grains per gallon (2025 water report): the softener takes that down to zero, the way the test proves it.

Portland

Disinfected with free chlorine, not chloramine. The carbon pulls THMs (disinfection byproducts) out — below what any home test can pick up. Portland’s water meets federal standards; we help your family hold it to a higher one.

Everywhere else we serve

We test first, then we tell you what the water actually needs. Everywhere we serve, we install the same standard system — built generously for the typical home.

Call (361) 222-2198 Text Us

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Reviews

Every review here comes from a real install.

We’re a new company. That means something most companies can’t say: every review on this page comes from a real customer with a real system in their home — starting with our very first install. No seeded reviews. No paid testimonials. No five-star favors.

After every install, we ask one thing: an honest review. Check back soon — the first reviews land with the first installs.

Call (361) 222-2198 Text Us

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What’s in your water?

Neither you nor your family should ever have to ask that question.

The short answer: mostly water — plus whatever your city adds to disinfect it, and whatever the pipes add on the way in.

Corpus Christi’s water is disinfected with chloramine. An independent database (EWG’s Tap Water Database) found 13 contaminants above their health guidelines in Corpus Christi’s water between 2021 and 2023. The catalytic carbon we install is credited against 12 of the 13 — the exception is nitrate, which takes reverse osmosis, not carbon.

Portland’s water is disinfected with free chlorine, and its disinfection byproducts (THMs) are the target there.

Here’s what our free in-home test checks: hardness, chlorine/chloramine, pH, and total dissolved solids — right at your kitchen table, with you watching. And here’s what it can’t do: a strip reads ranges, not verdicts. Only a lab can say yes or no on lead. We’ll tell you that before we test, not after.

Call or text (361) 222-2198 for your free in-home water test.

Call (361) 222-2198 Text for a Free Water Test

See it for yourself

What’s in your water? Look it up by ZIP.

You don’t need us to tell you — pull your utility’s own reported data. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) Tap Water Database compiles water-system reports so you can search by ZIP code and see detected contaminants for your provider.

Opens EWG Tap Water Database in a new tab. Try 78401, 78411, 78413, 78414, or your own ZIP.

Corpus Christi 78411 Downtown 78401 EWG Tap Water Database ↗

No test kit mailer.
No obligation.

Check the public record first. When you’re ready, call or text and we’ll review what the report shows and walk you through our standard system.

Source: EWG Tap Water Database — independent nonprofit database of utility water-quality reports.

Three pieces of equipment. Three different jobs.

Whole-House Carbon Filtration

Water Softener & Brine Tank

Reverse Osmosis

Book a free water test.

Whole-house carbon filtration.

Built to strip the chemical load out, house-wide.

It also stands guard downstream

It cleans itself

Contact time is the whole point.

Specifications

Straight talk: what it doesn’t do

Carbon handles the chemicals. The other stages handle the rest.

Water Softener & Brine Tank

Reverse Osmosis

Book a free water test.

The water softener & brine tank.

It takes the hardness minerals out. Actually out.

What soft water changes, day to day

Efficient by design

On septic? Ask about potassium.

Specifications

Straight talk: what it doesn’t do

The softener is stage two of three.

Whole-House Carbon Filtration

Reverse Osmosis

Book a free water test.

Reverse osmosis, finished at the tap.

Everything dissolved that the other stages can’t hold.

Proof, every time you pour a glass

Fed by the carbon tank — on purpose

Specifications

Straight talk: the practical notes

The RO is the finish. These are the stages ahead of it.

Whole-House Carbon Filtration

Water Softener & Brine Tank

Book a free water test.

Disinfected at the plant. Finished at your home.

Cleaner water should start before the tap.

Treat the water before your family uses it.

Catalytic Carbon Filtration

Metered Water Softening

From call to soft water in three steps.

Assess the home

Install the barrier

Maintain performance

What we bring as close to zero as possible

What we target before it reaches you

Disinfectants and organics, out before they reach a tap.

Why softening belongs in the plan

Built as two separate stages

Straight answers.

Call for a quote on our standard system.

The water entering your home should be as clean, pure, and comfortable as possible.

Call or text. A person answers.

We serve your town. Your town’s water is different.

Corpus Christi

Portland

Everywhere else we serve

Every review here comes from a real install.

Neither you nor your family should ever have to ask that question.

What’s in your water? Look it up by ZIP.