Austin Water 2025 CCR page: hardness 70–126 ppm (4.1–7.4 gpg), avg 93 / 5.4. Chloramines avg 2.3 ppm. Highland Lakes, not a well.
Some links are affiliate links. If you buy through one, we may earn a commission. That does not change the match, and it is not a medical claim.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
A salt-based softener is the thing that actually removes hardness. Size it from your grains and how much water you use, not bathroom count. It needs a drain.
A salt-free conditioner changes how scale sticks. It does not soften. Soap and spots stay closer to untreated. No brine line.
Catalytic carbon with a chloramine claim (NSF/ANSI 42 for chloramine). Regular chlorine carbon is the wrong box.
A pitcher or under-sink RO whose exact model is listed for PFAS under NSF/ANSI 53 or 58. The RO shop link is Waterdrop. Pitchers stay on a tagged Amazon search. We have not picked a model.
A homeowner kit is a start. It is not a state-certified lab. Use a certified lab when the decision is expensive.
Austin is a mid-hardness, chloramine file. Lakes Travis and Austin, not Edwards well water (that is a different utility).
The 2025 CCR page lists hardness 70–126 ppm (4.1–7.4 gpg), average 5.4 gpg. Chloramines average 2.3 ppm.
unrestricted-as-of-research.
Updated August 30, 2026. Adding another city is a new Markdown file in src/content/cities, not a rewrite of this page.