Call (269) 262-1399 for a free in-home water test. You'll talk to the owner
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(269) 262-1399 Free Water Test
G★★★★★5.0 rated on Google

Better water for your home, explained simply.

Backed by 15+ years of expertise, Clear & Simple Water Service delivers honest, dependable water treatment across Southwest Michigan. We test your water, explain what we find in plain English, and only recommend what it actually needs.

Schedule a Free Water Test Call (269) 262-1399

Free in-home water test • Professional installation • Local service

Brian, owner of Clear & Simple Water Service
BRIAN Owner / Operator
✓100% Free In-Home Water Testing
✓NSF-Certified Systems
✓Custom Built for Your Water
✓SW Michigan Owned and Operated

Local, owner-operated, and nothing to upsell you.

Not a franchise and not a call center. One person tests your water, sizes the system, installs it, and answers the phone afterward.

You deal with the owner

Brian does the water test, the quote, and the install. No hand-off to a sales rep, no crew you've never met.

Problem water is the specialty

High iron, tannins, nitrate, PFAS: the stubborn wells that take a careful explanation and a maintenance schedule, which is exactly what gets lost at a big company. Every system is sized to your water, not a catalog, and installed by me personally.

Southwest Michigan, start to finish

Based in Portage. Installation, maintenance, filter changes and salt delivery from someone who lives on the same water you do.

Common Water Problems

Here's what's actually going on in your water. Each one links to our Water Science page.

Hard Water & Scale

Spotty glasses, soap scum, crusty faucets? That's hard water, and most homes around here have 2 to 3 times the level considered “very hard.” A water softener protects your fixtures, your appliances, and your cleaning time.

SolutionMetered Water Softener, single or twin tank

Hard water, explained →

Iron, Sulfur & Odor

Orange stains, rusty laundry, slimy toilet tanks? That's iron, and many local wells have 3 to 15 times the amount it takes to stain. An iron filtration system stops it at the source.

SolutionIron Breaker ozone oxidation & filtration

Iron, explained →

Tannins & Tea-Colored Water

Yellow water, musty taste, dingy laundry? You may have tannins, and a standard softener won't remove them. A tannin filtration system will give you back clear, clean water your family can enjoy.

SolutionAnion exchange tannin filter, or dual media for tannins and hardness together

Tannins, explained →

Nitrates

No taste, no color, no smell, and boiling makes it worse. Nitrate comes from fertilizer, manure and septic systems and moves straight into shallow wells. We screen for it at the kitchen table; a softener won't touch it.

SolutionWhole-home nitrate treatment, or reverse osmosis at the tap

Nitrates, explained →

Drinking Water

Healthy habits start with the water you drink. Our drinking water systems reduce lead, chlorine, and other contaminants, giving your family cleaner, better-tasting water from the tap. Maintenance is simple: a five-minute filter swap and you're set.

SolutionUnder-sink Reverse Osmosis

RO & PFAS, explained →

Acidic Water & Blue-Green Stains

Blue-green stains in the sink, a metallic taste, pinhole leaks in copper pipe? That's low pH, and the water itself looks fine. It dissolves copper and brass on the way to the tap, and a tannin filter can cause it too.

SolutionCalcite pH neutralizer, upflow, refilled on service

Acidic water, explained →

We use Clack WS1 valves, the most widely serviced residential platform in the industry.

24k–64k
grains capacity, sized to your home
5–10 gpm
service flow by model
12 lbs
salt per regeneration
5 / 10 yr
valve / tank warranty

Water Softeners

Charger Matrix series • Clack WS1 metered control valve • 24,000–64,000 grains, sized to your home

  • Removes hardness at the source. Calcium and magnesium are captured by ion-exchange resin before they reach your water heater, fixtures or laundry.
  • Meters actual use. A demand-initiated valve counts gallons and regenerates only when the resin is actually spent, not on a timer that guesses.
  • Efficient on salt and water. Regeneration is sized to what was used, so you're not flushing a full brine cycle after a light week.
  • Twin tank available. Two alternating tanks for soft water 24/7, with no hard-water window during regeneration.
  • 5-year valve / 10-year tank warranty. Battery-backed clock, backlit display, three-color status light.
Water softeners, in detail →
2.07 V
ozone's oxidation potential vs 1.23 V for oxygen
0.3 ppm
where iron staining begins
Fe2+ → Fe3+
dissolved to filterable
0
chemicals to buy

Iron Breaker: Iron, Sulfur & Odor

Air-and-ozone oxidation, NextSand and catalytic carbon filtration, one tank • Clack WS1 control valve

  • Air and ozone, no chemicals. A head of air pressurized by your own well sits in the top of the tank, and an onboard generator charges it with ozone at every regeneration. At 2.07 V oxidation potential versus 1.23 V for oxygen, the ozone keeps it working at low pH where plain air stalls.
  • Sanitizes itself. The ozone reduces the iron and sulfur bacteria behind the recurring slime and rotten-egg odor that plain air units leave behind.
  • NextSand and catalytic carbon remove it. A cubic foot of catalytic carbon over a cubic foot of NextSand, a refined natural zeolite that filters to 3 to 5 microns, finishes the oxidation and traps the particles, then backwashes them to drain.
  • No chemicals, ever. No chlorine, no peroxide, no feed pump, no compressor. Ozone reverts to plain oxygen and leaves nothing behind.
The Iron Breaker, in detail →
Negative charge
why tannins need anion exchange, not a softener
< 7.2
treated-water pH where we add calcite
Same salt
brine tank and Clack WS1, like a softener
5 / 10 yr
valve / tank warranty

Tannin Filter: Yellow, Tea-Colored Water

Anion exchange • Clack WS1 metered control valve • pH correction only when the water needs it

  • Removes what a softener can't. Tannins are negatively charged organic acids from leaves and peat. Strong-base anion resin captures them the way softener resin captures hardness: the opposite charge, the same proven mechanism.
  • Same valve, same salt. The Clack WS1 metered valve regenerates the resin with ordinary softener salt, on gallons used rather than a timer.
  • pH correction when it's needed. Anion exchange strips bicarbonate and can lower pH. We test the treated water; if it drops below 7.2, a refillable calcite tank restores it. Most companies skip this step and leave you with acidic water.
  • Charger Matrix series. Same platform as our softeners, serviced the same way. 5-year valve / 10-year tank warranty.
The tannin filter, in detail →
2 resins, 1 tank
softening and tannin resin blended in a 12×54 tank
Day override
metered, but never more than a few days between rinses
< 7.2
treated-water pH where we add the calcite neutralizer
5 / 10 yr
valve / tank warranty

Dual Media System: Hardness and Tannins in One Tank

Blended cation and anion resin • Clack WS1 metered control valve • One brine tank, one footprint

  • Softener and tannin filter in one pass. Cation resin takes the hardness, strong-base anion resin takes the tannins, and one Clack WS1 valve regenerates both with ordinary softener salt.
  • Metered, with a day override. It regenerates on gallons like a softener, but never lets more than a few days pass, because anion resin left loaded with tannins fouls. It uses more salt than a plain softener, and we say so.
  • An Iron Breaker ahead of it. Iron fouls both resins and takes the tannin capacity first, so where the test shows iron the Iron Breaker goes in first.
  • pH tested after start-up. Removing tannins strips alkalinity. If the treated water falls below 7.2, the calcite pH neutralizer goes in behind it; if it holds, you don't pay for one.
The dual media system, in detail →
7.0–7.5
treated pH; calcite stops near neutral on its own
No drain
upflow design: no backwash, no power, no settings
1.3 mg/L
EPA copper action level; low pH is the usual cause
10×54
ported tank, refilled through the port

pH Neutralizer: Acidic Water and Blue-Green Stains

Calcite, NSF/ANSI 60 • Upflow ported tank • Refilled on service, because the media is meant to be used up

  • Raises pH by dissolving a little calcite. Crushed calcium carbonate consumes the acid and gives the water back its bicarbonate buffer, and it is self-limiting: it stops dissolving near neutral, so it cannot overshoot.
  • Stops the copper from dissolving. Acidic water eats copper pipe and brass: blue-green stains, a metallic taste, pinhole leaks. Neutral water stops the process, and new stains and new leaks stop with it.
  • Nothing to program, plug in or drain. Water flows up through the bed, which keeps the calcite loose and in contact. The only part that wears is the media, topped up through a port on the tank at the annual visit.
  • Placed where the chemistry says. Ahead of the softener when the well itself is acidic, so the softener removes the few grains of hardness calcite adds; after a tannin or dual media system when the treatment lowered the pH.
The pH neutralizer, in detail →
10 mg/L
the federal nitrate limit; the system is sized to bring every tap under it
NO3−
selective resin, prefers nitrate over sulfate
Same salt
brine tank and Clack WS1, like a softener
5 / 10 yr
valve / tank warranty

Whole-Home Nitrate Treatment

Nitrate-selective anion exchange • Clack WS1 metered control valve • Every tap, not just one

  • Removes what nothing else in the house can. Softeners, carbon and sediment filters pass nitrate straight through; nitrate-selective resin captures it.
  • Can't dump it back. Ordinary anion resin prefers sulfate and can release stored nitrate if it runs past exhaustion. Ours prefers nitrate, so treated water never exceeds the raw water.
  • Every tap, not just one. Cooking water, formula, the bathroom cup and the fridge line are all covered. For drinking water alone, reverse osmosis at the sink does the job.
  • Same valve, same salt. A brine tank and the Clack WS1 valve, serviced like your softener. 5-year valve / 10-year tank warranty.
The nitrate filter, in detail →
>99%
PFOA / PFOS removal, per EPA assessment
4 ppt
federal PFAS limit
~0.1 nm
membrane passage
95–99%
dissolved solids rejected

Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water

Five-stage under-sink system • NSF/ANSI 58 certified • Bottled-water quality from your own tap

  • Molecular-level filtration. A polyamide membrane with ~0.0001 micron passages rejects 95–99% of dissolved solids: lead, arsenic, nitrate, sodium, fluoride.
  • Proven against PFAS. EPA lists reverse osmosis as Best Available Technology for PFOA and PFOS, with removal greater than 99%.
  • Multi-stage protection. Sediment and carbon block prefilters protect the membrane; a final carbon polish delivers clean taste at the tap.
  • Always ready. A pressurized storage tank keeps treated water on hand for drinking, cooking, coffee and ice, for pennies a gallon.
Reverse osmosis, in detail →

Run a restaurant, bar or shop?

Commercial softeners on the full Clack valve line, twin-alternating for seven-day kitchens, and commercial reverse osmosis for ice, coffee and steam. Installed off-hours and serviced on a plan.

Commercial systems →
Reviews

What Our Neighbors Say

5.0★★★★★Rated on Google
“
★★★★★

Brian is a very professional honest person. He didn't try to oversell us anything. When he did the install he went the extra mile.

C
Christopher H.
Google review
“
★★★★★

Hired Clear and Simple Water service after speaking with 5 different companies in the area. Brian discussed options and provided a plan to fix my water. Quick, easy install. Really happy with the service and would recommend them to anyone.

S
Shawn C.
Google review
“
★★★★★

This is a young and upcoming company. It was so nice to get my quote from the owner, Brian, and he also was the installer. He was on time, courteous, and a job well done. I would highly recommend this company.

V
Valerie M.
Google review
Service Area

Proudly serving Southwest Michigan

Based in Portage. If you're within about an hour, we come to you.

PortageKalamazooVicksburgSchoolcraftMattawanPaw PawRichlandGalesburgAugustaPlainwellOtsegoThree RiversClimaxScottsTexas TownshipOshtemo
Get Started

Schedule a free in-home water test

Here's exactly what happens after you send the form.

  • 1Brian calls you back. Usually within one business day and we pick a day and time that works for you.
  • 2We test your water at your house. Hardness, iron, pH, TDS and anything else your symptoms point to.
  • 3You get a plain-English explanation and a real price. No pressure, no "manager approval" games.
Prefer to talk? (269) 262-1399  •  support@clearsimplewater.com

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