New Berlin city water and the softener question

New Berlin’s own water utility answers this one directly: since the city went to Lake Michigan water in 2009, it tells customers they should no longer need a softener. Here is what stands behind that advice, and how it plays out for three kinds of New Berlin household.

Call (262) 829-5961Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pm

Where the utility’s advice comes from

The New Berlin Water Utility buys every gallon it delivers from Milwaukee Water Works and does no treating of its own. Milwaukee publishes that Lake Michigan water at 137 milligrams per liter, about 8 grains per gallon, and New Berlin’s literature gives 8 to 10.

Before July 2009 the same mains carried groundwater the utility had put at 18 to 32 grains. Next to that, the lake water is a different supply altogether, and the utility’s advice follows from the change.

Hard, but not very hard

Milwaukee’s 137 milligrams per liter falls in the band the USGS calls hard, between 121 and 180, with very hard starting above 180. Water in the hard band still leaves glassware spotted and fixtures filmed, and it still deposits scale inside water heaters, so lake water is not free of those effects. It simply sits well away from the very hard end where the old groundwater was.

A city-water house with no softener

This is the household the utility’s advice fits best. If nobody in the house minds spotted glasses, the advice can simply stand, and that is a perfectly sound way to live on New Berlin water.

Wanting softened water anyway is a reasonable choice too. The system is the same package as anywhere else, softener, brine tank and kitchen drinking tap together, and you will get a plain answer on the call about whether it is worth it at your house.

A city-water house with a softener from before 2009

Here the question is less whether you need a softener than what the old one believes about your water. A unit set before July 2009 was very likely set for groundwater in the 18 to 32 grain range, not for lake water at about 8.

Checking that setting comes first, and the guide on softener settings shows how. Whether to keep, reset or replace the unit after that is your call.

A house on a private well

The utility’s advice was never about you. Private wells went on drawing the groundwater behind the old 18 to 32 grain figure when the city’s mains switched in 2009, so softening matters on a New Berlin well as much as it ever did.

A quote for a well house starts from the well’s own numbers, and the wells page lists what to have ready.

Common questions

Is the drinking-water tap a reason to get the system on city water?

The tap is part of every whole-home system and cannot be bought separately, so it belongs to the same decision rather than a separate one.

Should I take out a softener I already have on city water?

That is up to you. The utility’s view is that city customers should no longer need one. If you keep yours, have it set for the water arriving now, about 8 grains, rather than for the groundwater the city stopped pumping in 2009.

More for New Berlin homes

Get your price

Send your details and we will call you with one price. Nobody comes to the house to sell you anything.

Get your price on one call

Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pm

Call (262) 829-5961

Or send your details