Tijeras · Cedar Crest · Sandia Park · Carnuel
Water treatment for homes on the east side of the Sandias
Up here, your neighbor's water can be nothing like yours. We bring a free water test to your door, read the results with you at the kitchen counter, and only then talk about equipment.
- Testing for private wells, shared wells and community systems
- Help arranging lab tests for the things a field kit can't see
- Installed by our own crew, usually in about half a day
Know your source
Where East Mountain water comes from
Drive up Tijeras Canyon on I-40 and you leave the Albuquerque water utility behind. Bernalillo County reports that roughly half of East Mountain residents draw from an individual or shared well, and roughly half are on a community water system. Which group you're in shapes almost every decision that follows.
Most of that water comes out of limestone. The aquifer under the area is largely fractured and solution-channeled rock, so water travels through cracks and dissolved channels rather than a uniform layer of sand. Two wells a few hundred feet apart can tap different fractures and produce very different water.
- Communities
- Tijeras, Cedar Crest, Sandia Park, Carnuel and the surrounding mountain neighborhoods
- County
- Bernalillo County, east of the Sandia Mountains
- Water supply
- About half private or shared wells, about half community water systems
- Aquifer
- Fractured and solution-channeled limestone
- What that means
- Hardness and quality vary well to well, and limestone water commonly tests hard
- Big local concern
- Falling groundwater levels in some areas, so every gallon counts
What we install here
Three systems, matched to what your test finds
We don't walk in with a favorite product. The test decides, and some mountain homes need only one of these.
Softening for limestone water
Calcium and magnesium picked up from the rock leave crust on fixtures and scale inside water heaters. A metered water softener for East Mountain homes takes that hardness out before it reaches your plumbing, and it can handle small amounts of iron too.
Filtration for taste and odor
If a community system disinfects, you may taste chlorine. If you're on a well, sediment or a sulfur smell can show up. Whole-home filtration in the East Mountains uses catalytic carbon, with specialty media available once a test points to iron, manganese or sulfur.
Drinking water at the tap
For cooking and drinking, reverse osmosis for East Mountain kitchens lowers dissolved solids and is the standard point-of-use approach for things like arsenic, nitrate and fluoride, which a softener won't touch.
Living with a well in the mountains
Private wells aren't regulated the way public systems are. Nobody mails you an annual report; the homeowner is the one responsible for knowing what's in the water. Our 15-minute on-site test covers hardness, total dissolved solids, pH, chlorine, iron, manganese and sulfur, and you'll see each reading as it comes up. For bacteria, nitrate, arsenic and other items that need a certified lab, we help you arrange that testing and then go over the results together.
If a lab result ever shows bacteria, that calls for disinfection, which is a different job from softening or filtering. We'll tell you so plainly and point you toward the right next step rather than sell you something that doesn't address it.
Why we care about water use up here
Groundwater levels have dropped in parts of the East Mountains. Our softeners use digital metered valves that regenerate only after you've used enough water to need it, instead of on a fixed timer. We size each system to your household so it isn't flushing more than necessary.
On a community system, the picture is simpler: your water provider tests and publishes an annual water quality report, also called a Consumer Confidence Report. Pull yours up before we visit and we'll explain how it lines up with what we measure at your tap.
Questions we hear from East Mountain homeowners
Will my water test like my neighbor's?
Not necessarily. Because the limestone aquifer is fractured, wells can tap different channels and produce different water even on adjoining lots. That's why we test your tap rather than lean on a neighborhood average.
Do you work on shared wells?
Yes. We can test and install treatment on your home's side of a shared well. If several households want treatment, we test each home's water separately.
Where does equipment go in a mountain home?
On a well, the system goes after the pressure tank, in a spot that stays above freezing. That's often a garage, utility room or basement. We'll look at your setup during the test and suggest the cleanest location.
How far up the mountain do you travel?
We serve Tijeras, Carnuel, Cedar Crest, Sandia Park and the surrounding East Mountain neighborhoods. Call (505) 555-0123 if you're not sure whether your road is in range.
Find out exactly what's in your water — free.
A 15-minute on-site test with results in real time, a plain-English report, and an honest recommendation. No pressure, no obligation.