Farm fertilizer runs nitrate into the same rivers Des Moines drinks from — and the filter on your counter probably does nothing about it. Here's what actually works.
The rivers Des Moines drinks from ran to roughly double the EPA's nitrate limit — which is why the utility asked ~600,000 people to stop watering their lawns.
The city treats tap water down to the legal limit — but only by running one of the largest nitrate-removal systems in the country, flat-out. That pressure is on your source water. A reverse-osmosis system pulls nitrate down at your kitchen tap.
Nitrate is a tiny dissolved ion — most "solutions" people trust don't remove it at all. Tap through and see.
Based on U.S. EPA drinking-water standards, CDC home water-treatment guidance, and iSpring RCC7AK product specs. Removal figures are typical for each method at the tap.
Iowa grows more corn than almost anywhere on earth, and all that farmland runs nitrogen fertilizer into the same rivers Des Moines drinks from.
That's why our water utility runs one of the largest nitrate-removal systems around — they're not doing that for fun. In June 2026 the levels got high enough that roughly 600,000 central Iowans were asked to stop watering their lawns.
The city treats the water to the legal limit. But if you want nitrate pulled down at your tap, a carbon pitcher won't do it — reverse osmosis is one of the only home methods that actually will. The first step is just knowing your number, and that's a free 20-minute test.
Tate comes to your home, tests your tap on the spot, and shows you the real number — no charge, no pressure. Takes 20 minutes.