By water source
| WASD county water | Private well | |
|---|---|---|
| Main concern | Chloramine taste and odor | Hardness, iron, sulfur; bacteria via lab test |
| Usually first | Filter (whole-home or RO) | Well system with filtration and softening |
| Softener? | Only if tap hardness bothers you | Often |
The village has both situations side by side. A home on a street with a new county main may be on lime-softened, chloramine-treated WASD water, while the neighbor around the corner still draws from a private well. The same complaint, such as spots on glass, can have different causes and different fixes in those two houses, which is why the source comes first.
By complaint
- Pool smell, chemical taste: filter.
- White crust, spots on glass: hardness; softener if the number supports it.
- Orange stains outdoors: iron in an irrigation well; neither device on the house line.
- Rotten eggs on every tap: a well problem; see sulfur smell in Palmetto Bay.
- Skin feels tight: often chloramine on county water; test both factors.
It also helps to note when each problem appears. A smell that is strongest in the shower suggests a disinfectant; spots that appear only where water dries suggest minerals; stains only where sprinklers reach point to the irrigation source.
Why county water leans toward filtration
WASD's Orr plant applies lime treatment to reduce hardness, then adds chloramine; the main system averaged 2.5 ppm of chloramine in 2025. So the water arriving in Palmetto Bay has had some hardness removed and carries a disinfectant most people can taste. A filter addresses what they notice; a softener addresses something they may not.
When you need both
Private wells, businesses with heavy hot-water use, and county water homes with a measured hardness that still bothers them. Order matters: on a well, iron and sediment usually come out before the softener, and drinking-water RO comes last. Read softener vs. filter: which do you need and salt-free vs. ion exchange.
If you recently connected to WASD and still have a well softener installed, ask whether it is still worth running. Softening already-softened water uses salt for little benefit, and a filter for chloramine may be the more useful upgrade.
Let the test decide
Jorge measures chlorine, hardness, iron, TDS and pH and tells you which tool fits, or that you need neither. Call, text or WhatsApp Jorge at (305) 793-5974.
Writing down what bothers you before the visit helps: smell, taste, spots, skin, stains or appliance scale. The test then confirms or rules out each one.Updated 2026-10-17 · Living Waters · Jorge Canela, Water Quality Specialist