Los Lunas · Valencia County
Water treatment for a growing Los Lunas
New rooftops keep going up between the river and the mesa, and every one of them draws on the same deep groundwater. Here's what that means for the water coming out of your faucet, and how we help Los Lunas households make the most of it.
Los Lunas water at a glance
- Who supplies it
- The Village of Los Lunas runs its own water utility for homes inside village limits.
- Where it comes from
- Wells drawing from the Santa Fe Group aquifer, the thick layer of sand, gravel and clay that fills the Albuquerque Basin.
- Treatment history
- The village added arsenic treatment at its wells around 2009–2010 and has kept investing in system upgrades since.
- Outside village limits
- Many rural properties pump from their own private domestic wells.
- Official numbers
- The village's annual water quality report (Consumer Confidence Report) is the place to look for tested levels.
Why groundwater behaves the way it does here
Water that sits underground for a long time picks up whatever the surrounding sediment gives it. In the Albuquerque Basin, that includes calcium and magnesium, which is why basin groundwater commonly tests hard, and it also includes naturally occurring arsenic, which is common across the Middle Rio Grande region.
Arsenic is the one regulators care most about, and it's the reason the village treats its wells. A public system has to meet the federal limit, and the Village of Los Lunas reports its results every year. Hardness, by contrast, isn't regulated at all. It's an aesthetic and appliance issue, so it passes through the utility untouched and lands in your water heater, your dishwasher and your shower glass.
Growth adds another wrinkle. As more households connect, a utility leans on more wells and keeps upgrading equipment, and the minerals arriving at your tap can vary depending on which wells are feeding your part of town. A quick test at your own kitchen sink tells us more than any map could.
Two kinds of Los Lunas homes
Most of our calls fall into one of two groups. One is the newer subdivision home on village water, often with a tankless heater or a high-efficiency appliance package that hates scale. The other is the older valley place or acreage outside village limits, with a well, a pressure tank in a shed or pump house, and an owner who handles all of the testing personally.
The equipment can look similar on paper, but the reasons behind it and the way we plumb it in differ.
What we install in Los Lunas
Three ways to improve your water
Whole-home softening
Ion exchange pulls out the calcium and magnesium that crust up fixtures and shorten appliance life. See how we size and place water softeners for Los Lunas homes.
Carbon filtration
Catalytic carbon cuts disinfectant taste and odor, sediment and many VOCs at every tap. Read about whole-home filtration in Los Lunas.
Drinking water RO
A kitchen-sink reverse osmosis unit is the standard point-of-use approach for arsenic and nitrate. Learn more about reverse osmosis for Los Lunas.
On a private well outside the village?
No utility tests your water for you, and no annual report arrives in the mail. Private wells aren't regulated the way public systems are, so the homeowner carries the responsibility. Our on-site test covers hardness, TDS, pH, chlorine, iron, manganese and sulfur, and we'll help you arrange lab testing for bacteria, nitrate and arsenic so the recommendation rests on real data. If bacteria turn up, that calls for disinfection, and we'll point you to the right lab and next steps rather than sell you something that won't fix it.
Whichever group you're in, the visit is the same: about fifteen minutes at your sink, results on the spot, and a printed report written in plain English. From there you can compare our installed packages, starting at $2,495 for softening alone, or simply keep the report and do nothing at all.
Los Lunas questions we hear often
Does the village's arsenic treatment mean I don't need anything at home?
The village treats for arsenic so its water meets the federal standard, and its annual report shows the results. What that treatment doesn't address is hardness, so scale on fixtures and appliances is still the most common reason Los Lunas homeowners call us. Some families also add RO at the kitchen sink for drinking water they prefer the taste of.
Do you serve homes outside village limits?
Yes. We regularly visit acreage and well properties around Los Lunas, and the free test is the same wherever you live. On a well, we also help you set up lab testing.
Will a softener work with my tankless water heater?
It's one of the best things you can pair with one. Tankless heat exchangers are sensitive to scale, and softened water keeps them cleaner between service visits.
How long does an install take?
About half a day for most homes, done by our own installers. We clean up and show you how everything works before we leave.
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.