Family-owned · Grand Junction Local

Water Softener Installation in Gunnison, CO

Name: Smart Living Water
Address: 2829 North Ave #103, Grand Junction, CO, 81501, US
Telephone: (970) 773-6439
Rating: 4.9

Gunnison's tap water comes out of the ground. A free in-home test shows how hard yours is before you buy anything.

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Gunnison Runs on Groundwater

Water softener installation in Gunnison, CO is worth a serious look, because the city's tap water is pumped from wells rather than piped in from a mountain stream. The City of Gunnison says its supply comes from nine groundwater wells in the Gunnison River alluvial aquifer, and that the water is chlorinated and sent into the distribution system without a separate treatment plant. Water that moves through sand and gravel picks up calcium and magnesium on the way, and those minerals are what turn into scale. Smart Living Water is based in Grand Junction, and our team travels to Gunnison to run a free water test at your tap. Call (970) 773-6439 to set a time.

The most specific hardness figure we could find is old, and we want to be upfront about that. The City's 2021 Water Master Plan reproduces a 1974 lab analysis of Well No. 3 that measured total hardness at 230 mg/L as calcium carbonate, roughly 13 grains per gallon. The same plan notes that adding a surface water source would lower hardness, and the City is planning a new treatment plant at VanTuyl Ranch. Until that changes what reaches your faucet, the test at your sink is the number that counts. Smart Living Water holds a 4.9 rating across 76 Google reviews and is a member of the Western Colorado Home Builders Association.

Technician and homeowner with a stainless whole-home filter in the utility room

What We Test For in Gunnison

Hardness first, then the other things a groundwater supply can carry.

Hardness You Can Size To

Calcium and magnesium leave the white crust on shower heads, the film on glassware and the layer of scale inside a water heater. We give you a hardness reading in grains per gallon, which is the figure a softener is actually sized to. If your result comes back low, we will tell you to skip the softener.

Iron and Manganese

These two leave orange and black stains and a metallic taste. An old engineering report quoted in the City's master plan says one city well was once fitted with a small filter for higher iron and manganese, and a USGS study of the upper Gunnison watershed found iron above the secondary standard at two wells near the city. We check for both, and private wells get extra attention.

Chlorine and Its Byproducts

The City disinfects its well water with chlorine, so a residual reaches your tap. Chlorine can react with organic matter to form trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids. A carbon stage in a whole-home filter improves taste and smell and reduces those byproducts.

Cloudiness and Grit

In a 2020 round of sampling recorded in the master plan, most city wells read around 1 NTU of turbidity and one read noticeably higher. A sediment pre-filter is a simple fix, and it protects a softener's resin and your fixtures from grit.

What We Install

Systems We Install in Gunnison

Every recommendation is tied to a number from your own test.

Water Softener Installation

A water softener sized to your measured hardness and how much water your household uses. We set the regeneration schedule from your test results, so the system isn't burning salt and water it doesn't need.

Whole House Filtration

Whole house water filtration catches chlorine, sediment and iron ahead of the softener, so every faucet, shower and appliance gets treated water. In a town that runs on wells, a filter and softener working together is a common setup.

HydraShield Elite

The HydraShield Elite is the most complete saltless whole-home system we install. It suits Gunnison owners who want filtration and scale control in one unit without a brine tank, and it is designed to be maintenance-free under normal use.

Whole Home Reverse Osmosis

When a test shows something a filter and softener can't fully handle, whole-home reverse osmosis sends all of the house's water through a membrane. Most Gunnison homes won't need it. The test tells us which ones do.

Our Process

How It Works in Gunnison

We Test at Your Sink

Our team travels from Grand Junction to Gunnison and tests the water where you actually drink it. You watch the readings come up and keep the results.

You Get a Plain Recommendation

Bryce Quigley's team explains what each number means and suggests the smallest setup that fixes what we found. If a softener alone does the job, that is all we'll put in front of you.

We Install and Walk You Through It

Once you say go, we schedule the install, fit the system, and show you how it runs and when, if ever, it will need attention.

What Gunnison Homeowners Should Know

Many homes outside city limits in the Gunnison Valley have their own wells. The City's Source Water Protection Plan cites state records showing more than 1,800 wells completed in the Gunnison River alluvium, most of them domestic, with a mean depth of just 49 feet. Shallow alluvial wells can differ a lot from one lot to the next. A USGS reconnaissance of groundwater around Gunnison and Crested Butte found hardness from 18 to 400 mg/L and dissolved solids from 30 to 829 mg/L across the wells it sampled, with calcium magnesium bicarbonate water the most common type. Your neighbor's results don't predict yours. If you're on city water, the system itself is in the middle of a long-planned change. The City describes its nine wells, drilled in the middle of city streets, as a temporary solution that has lasted decades, and it is planning a treatment plant and infiltration gallery at VanTuyl Ranch. Part of the reason, the City says, is that treating emerging contaminants like PFAS needs more room and equipment than the current well houses have. That project runs on the City's timeline. What happens after water passes your meter is up to you, and a free water test is the easy first step.

Frequently asked questions

Is Gunnison water hard?

The most specific local figure we found is a 1974 analysis of city Well No. 3, reproduced in the City's 2021 Water Master Plan, which measured 230 mg/L of total hardness as calcium carbonate, or about 13 grains per gallon. It is decades old and covers one well, so we test at your tap and give you a current number before recommending a softener.

Where does Gunnison's city water come from?

From nine groundwater wells, each about 80 feet deep, in the Gunnison River alluvial aquifer, according to the City's Source Water Protection Plan. The water is chlorinated and pumped straight into the system. The City is planning a new treatment plant at VanTuyl Ranch.

I'm on a private well near Gunnison. What should I look at?

Hardness, iron, manganese, pH and nitrate are a sensible starting list for a shallow alluvial well, and bacteria testing is worth doing on any private well. Our free in-home test covers the treatment basics, and we will tell you plainly if something in the results calls for a certified lab test.

Do I need a softener and a filter, or just one?

It depends on the readings. If hardness is the only issue, a softener is enough. If the test also shows chlorine taste, sediment or iron, a filter ahead of the softener protects the resin and handles what softening doesn't. The HydraShield Elite is an option if you'd rather have one saltless system.

Do you come out to Gunnison?

Yes. Smart Living Water is based in Grand Junction, and our team travels to Gunnison for free water tests and installations. Call (970) 773-6439 to book a time.

Free · No obligation

Get a free water test

Our team will reach out within 24 hours, often the same day, to schedule your free water test. Find out what's really in your water before you spend a dollar on any system.

We come to you. Free travel for a water test anywhere in our service area.
We pay for well-water lab testing. Competitors charge an average of $299 for the same tests.
No obligation. Straight answers, and the right recommendation for your water.

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