Each card says what is usually behind the symptom, what fixes it and what the fix costs installed — no sales pitch. Quick answer: hard water is the most common complaint here, and a softener runs $1,799–$3,399 installed (reference prices until CreekWell’s contractor licenses are issued); if you are on a well, test for arsenic first with the $185 lab panel.
Hard water & White scale
Spots on glassware, soap that won’t lather, dry skin, scale in the water heater. Cause: hardness — calcium and magnesium. The City of Prescott reports 4.3–7.6 grains per gallon (gpg); Prescott Valley reports about 7.2 gpg, and 9.6 on its Mingus West system. The USGS calls anything over 7 hard. Private wells run higher — ADEQ’s study of Prescott-area wells averaged about 12 gpg.
What it costs you: fixtures crust, soap lathers less, and scale costs a gas water heater efficiency. (In the tests Pacific Northwest National Laboratory reviewed, the effect on electric tank heaters was negligible.)
Fix: a water softener — the Bobcat at $1,799 on a well or behind a carbon filter (the supplier says to protect softener resin from chlorine), or a Tiger, softener and carbon in one tank, at $2,235–$3,399 by size (which Tiger?); reference prices until the contractor licenses are issued.
Want less scale without salt?
Salt-free conditioners are meant to reduce scale without a brine discharge or salt bags to carry; none of the ones here is certified for scale reduction. The supplier’s salt-free systems use Filtersorb SP3, similar in idea to TAC media; the media in your tank is written on your estimate. They do not soften: the hardness stays in the water.
Fix: the Snow Leopard salt-free conditioner, $2,750 (a reference price).
Salt-free conditionersChlorine taste & smell
Cause: chlorine and disinfection byproducts on city water; organics or iron on a well. The City of Prescott disinfects with chlorine, which can leave a pool smell. Taste problems are usually the cheapest to solve.
Usual fix: under-sink reverse osmosis for drinking and cooking, $829 installed. For every tap, the Lynx whole-house catalytic carbon ($1,885, a reference price until the contractor licenses are issued) reduces chlorine and chloramine taste and smell. On a well, a rotten-egg smell or iron is treated first: RO does not remove hydrogen sulfide, and it needs iron up to 0.3 ppm (Charger). A softener takes clear-water iron up to about 2 ppm; a rotten-egg smell or heavier iron is the Panther’s job.
Bad drinking water / TDS
A metallic taste, high TDS, or worry about lead, nitrates or fluoride at the kitchen tap.
Fix: the Kitten under-sink RO at $829, or the Ocelot 6-stage alkaline at $999, installed. RO can reduce these (not certified; a test of the RO water shows your result); on a well it needs iron up to 0.3 ppm and manganese up to 0.1 ppm (Charger).
Reverse osmosisIron, rust & rotten-egg smell
Cause: iron and manganese — orange stains in toilets and laundry are iron; black or purple-gray is manganese. A rotten-egg smell is usually hydrogen sulfide (see the questions below). Common in Chino Valley and on private wells across the county.
Fix: clear-water iron up to about 2 ppm (the water runs clear, then stains): a softener, the Bobcat, $1,799. Heavier or rusty iron, or a rotten-egg smell: the Panther iron filter plus softener, $3,400; with grit too, the Cougar complete well package, $6,475 (reference prices).
Well waterGrit, cloudiness, clogged aerators
Cause: sediment. Sand and silt from the well or from work on the line. Cloudy water that clears from the bottom up is usually just air.
Usual fix: clean the aerators and cartridges; find the source before buying equipment. If the grit is coming from the well, the Sand Cat sediment filter plus softener is $3,075 (a reference price).
Sediment filtersArsenic in well water
Colorless, odorless, tasteless. 43.6% of Yavapai County samples in a peer-reviewed statewide analysis were over the EPA limit of 10 µg/L (Jones et al., 2020). Annual testing recommended.
Fix: the $185 lab test first; then the Jaguar whole-house arsenic system, $4,750 (a reference price), or under-sink RO, $829, for drinking and cooking water, if your well is inside its limits (arsenic V up to 300 ppb, iron up to 0.3 ppm, manganese up to 0.1 ppm; not certified, so a test of the RO water shows your result).
Arsenic removalPFAS / forever chemicals
An emerging concern near military installations, airports, fire-training sites and industry. It takes dedicated reduction media — and a separate $334 PFAS lab test to know whether you have it.
Fix: the Caracal PFAS system, $3,450 (a reference price).
PFAS removalNothing you can see or taste
Cause: could be anything. Arsenic, nitrate, uranium and bacteria have no taste, smell or color. The EPA limit for arsenic is 10 µg/L; some wells in the county are well over it.
Only fix: test. A field meter cannot measure any of these.
Order a lab panelNo hot water / burst pipe
A water heater that has quit, a leak under the sink, a backed-up drain. A priority service call is $250 flat — on site, diagnosed, and any repair quoted before it starts. Branch drains are $179 flat; main-line sewer cabling and camera work are not offered yet.
Fix: water heaters from $1,490 installed (a reference price: replacement waits for the contractor licenses).
Low pressure or noisy pipes
Cause: usually not water chemistry. Failing pressure regulator, a partially closed valve, scale in a cartridge, or a leak.
Usual fix: a plumbing diagnosis, not a treatment system.
Plumbing services