FAQ
Water questions, answered straight.
The questions Pete gets asked most often by well and municipal water customers across Grass Valley and Nevada County — answered without a sales script.
How do I know if I need a water treatment system?
Start with a laboratory water test. Visible signs — scale on fixtures, orange or black staining, rotten-egg odour, blue-green stains, cloudy water — each point to a specific chemistry problem, but only a test tells you concentrations. Clearwater & Filtration runs a free on-site assessment in Nevada County and interprets your lab results before recommending any equipment.
What should I test my well water for in Nevada County, California?
At minimum: total coliforms and E. coli, pH, hardness, total dissolved solids, iron, manganese, nitrate and arsenic. Foothill wells in the Sierra granitics are commonly acidic and low in buffering minerals, and arsenic occurs naturally in the local bedrock, so those two deserve particular attention.
How often should well water be tested?
Test for bacteria and nitrate every year, and run a full chemistry panel every one to three years or after any change in taste, colour, odour or well performance. Retest after well work, flooding, or a nearby septic repair.
How much does a whole-house water filtration system cost?
Cost depends entirely on what is in the water. A single-problem system such as a softener or sediment/carbon pair sits at the low end; multi-stage systems handling iron, manganese, arsenic or bacteria cost more because each contaminant needs its own stage. Clearwater & Filtration quotes only after seeing lab results, so you are not paying for stages your water does not need.
Does a water softener remove iron, arsenic or bacteria?
No. A softener removes calcium and magnesium hardness by ion exchange. Iron and manganese will foul the resin, arsenic is not reliably captured, and bacteria are unaffected. Each of those needs a dedicated treatment stage installed ahead of or alongside the softener.
Is softened water safe to drink?
Yes for most people. Ion exchange replaces calcium and magnesium with a small amount of sodium proportional to the original hardness. Households on sodium-restricted diets can regenerate with potassium chloride instead, or keep a reverse-osmosis tap for drinking water.
Do you service wells and pumps as well as filtration?
Yes. Clearwater & Filtration handles well pump service and troubleshooting alongside treatment system design, installation and ongoing maintenance — the same person who specifies the system installs and maintains it.
What areas does Clearwater & Filtration serve?
Grass Valley, Nevada City, Penn Valley, Rough and Ready, Alta Sierra, Lake Wildwood, Lake of the Pines and the surrounding Nevada County communities in California.
Who runs Clearwater & Filtration?
Pete Dalla-Betta, a soil microbiologist and process engineer with more than 17 years in wastewater operations, anaerobic digester design and reactor engineering. He designs, installs and services the systems himself.
How do I get a water assessment?
Call or email Clearwater & Filtration at clearwatergv@gmail.com to book a free water assessment in Nevada County. Bring any recent lab results; if you do not have any, Pete will advise which tests to run first.
Still have a question?
Pete answers the phone himself. Bring your lab results, or none at all.
Request a free assessment