What WASD does before the water arrives
WASD's 2025 Water Quality Report says that, in general, homes north of SW 8 Street receive water from the Hialeah and John E. Preston plants, while the Alexander Orr, Jr. plant serves homes south of SW 8 Street. Sweetwater City Hall, at 500 SW 109 Avenue, sits north of SW 8 Street, and the city's own history describes the state university as lying to its south. If your address is right along Tamiami Trail, WASD can confirm which plant normally feeds your street.
At the Hialeah plant, lime treatment reduces hardness. At Preston, the process is called enhanced softening. Both lower the calcium and magnesium that cause scale, though neither takes hardness to zero.
Homes vs. businesses
| Typical home | Restaurant, laundry, salon | |
|---|---|---|
| How scale shows up | Spots on glass, crust on showerheads | Scaled dishwashers, ice machines, coffee equipment, water heaters |
| Usual priority | Chloramine filtration first | Scale protection first |
| Softener decision | Only if the test shows meaningful hardness | Often worth it, sized to daily use |
With over 600 businesses in a small city, many of Sweetwater's softener questions come from commercial kitchens and laundries.
How ion exchange works
Water flows through resin beads that swap calcium and magnesium for sodium or potassium. When the resin is loaded, the system regenerates with salt brine and flushes the hardness to the drain. Living Water offers ion-exchange softening plants for homes and businesses, including restaurants, laundries, gyms, schools, offices and car washes.
A softener does not remove chloramine
Softening and disinfectant removal are separate jobs. If you also want WASD's chloramine taste gone, a carbon stage is paired with the softener, as in a city water system. Many families also keep a separate RO drinking tap.
Questions to ask
- What hardness did my test show?
- How was the softener sized, and how often will it regenerate?
- Where does the brine discharge go?
- How much salt should I expect to use?
- For a business: does capacity match our busiest day?
Book a hardness test
Call, text or WhatsApp (305) 793-5974. Jorge tests at your tap and recommends a softener only if the numbers support it.
https://www.miamidade.gov/resources/water/documents/2025-water-quality-report.pdf
https://www.cityofsweetwater.fl.gov/206/About-Us
Updated 2026-10-17 · Living Waters · Jorge Canela, Water Quality Specialist