Water Filtration & Treatment in Tequesta

A village-run water utility

Tequesta's water department is an enterprise department: the Village says its budget is kept separate from the General Fund and is paid for by water fees, not property taxes. The Village's water rate page explains that rates, fees and charges are set to increase on October 1, 2026, citing treatment plant components at or near the end of their useful life and aging pipes.

If your mailing address says Tequesta but you are not sure you are inside the Village's service area, check the name on your water bill. That tells you whose report to read.

Two sources, two treatment trains

According to the Village's 2025 Water Quality Report, the plant receives raw water from 14 production wells. Water from the 10 surficial aquifer wells is physically and chemically treated by direct filtration. Water from the 4 deep wells, drilled nearly 1,800 feet into the upper Floridan aquifer, is treated by reverse osmosis. The process includes oxidation, filtration and disinfection by chloramination.

Because the finished water is a blend of filtered shallow groundwater and RO-treated deep water, Tequesta's water sits between the two extremes you see in South Florida. The Village's FAQ puts average hardness at about 100 to 120 mg/L, just above its own 100 mg/L line for soft water and well below the 200 mg/L it calls hard.

The same report says the plant's staff prepare and analyze 10 to 15 water samples every day of the year for compliance and quality monitoring, and that a 2025 Florida DEP source water assessment found 8 potential sources of contamination near the wells, all with low susceptibility. Nitrate was 0.049 ppm against a limit of 10.

Chloramine, with a yearly free-chlorine period

The 2025 report lists chloramines at a highest running annual average of 2.32 ppm, with individual results from 0.6 to 3.8 ppm, under the 4.0 ppm limit. The Village's FAQ explains it uses mono-chloramine so chlorine does not react with natural organic material in groundwater, and that once a year it temporarily switches to free chlorine to purge the distribution system, when customers may notice more chlorine taste and odor.

Disinfection byproducts in 2025: haloacetic acids (HAA5) at 50 ppb against a limit of 60, and total trihalomethanes at 42.3 ppb against 80. Both are within limits. See chloramine filters in Tequesta.

Fluoride and PFAS

• Fluoride: the Village says it does not add fluoride; natural fluoride averages about 0.030 mg/L. See fluoride filters.
• PFAS: the Village's Water Quality page reports August 2025 testing of finished water at 3.5 ppt PFOA and 8.7 ppt PFOS. EPA's limits for each are 4.0 ppt with compliance due in 2029. The Village says its water meets all currently enforceable requirements and that it is evaluating treatment and operational options to reduce PFAS. See PFAS filters in Tequesta.
• Lead and copper: 90th percentile results of 3.10 ppb lead and 0.53 ppm copper (2023 sampling), with no sites over the action level.

A waterfront village

The Village describes itself as a waterfront environment between the Loxahatchee River, the Indian River and the Atlantic Ocean, and it follows a year-round three-day-a-week landscape watering schedule. Water main replacement projects are under way on Tequesta Drive and Beach Road, and annual hydrant testing can cause brief discoloration that clears after running the cold tap. Private irrigation wells, where present, are a separate untreated source; see well and irrigation water.

That waterfront setting is why the Village also runs the stormwater system, with more than 10 miles of pipes and culverts, 511 catch basins and 4 major outfalls under its federal discharge permit, and keeps a stormwater management manual to protect the river and lagoon. None of that affects your tap directly, but it explains why the Utilities Department handles both water and stormwater questions.

What usually fits a Tequesta home

• Single-family home: a whole-home city water system for chloramine at every tap, plus under-sink alkaline RO for drinking water.
• Beach Road condo: under-sink RO, since main-line changes depend on the association.
• Home with visible scale: a hardness test first; at about 100 to 120 mg/L, a softener is a judgment call, not automatic.
• Business: an ion-exchange softening plant where equipment needs scale protection, sized from a test.

Every Tequesta topic, and how to book

Systems: whole-home filtration, water softeners, under-sink RO, best drinking water system, softener vs. filter.

Problems: chlorine and chloramine, rotten-egg smell, orange stains, hard water spots, dry skin after showering, PFAS, fluoride, well water.

Costs: filtration, reverse osmosis, softener. Testing: home water testing.

Call, text or WhatsApp Jorge at (305) 793-5974. Living Water offers financing through its financing partners; you apply with a credit application, and a co-applicant can apply with you.

Updated 2026-10-17 · Living Waters · Jorge Canela, Water Quality Specialist