Affordable and reliable softeners. Family owned since 1979.
Every figure below comes from the City of Tampa's own 2024 Water Quality Report and fact sheets.
Tampa's hardness swings with the seasons. The city's own fact sheet puts the range at roughly 140 to 300 ppm (8 to 17 grains per gallon) — lower in the wet season, higher in the dry. So Tampa water crosses the hard / very-hard boundary in both directions over the course of a year. A single annual average understates what your appliances see in April and May.
The City of Tampa's 2024 report is direct about it: “Tampa Water Department customers rely on the Hillsborough River as their primary source of water.” In 2024, just 2.5 percent of Tampa's drinking water was purchased from Tampa Bay Water, the regional wholesaler.
That regional wholesaler is where the more familiar Tampa Bay water story lives — Tampa Bay Water blends river water, thirteen regional wellfields and the Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Plant to supply more than 2.6 million people across Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas. If you're in Pinellas or Pasco rather than the City of Tampa, your water likely comes through that system instead, and your numbers will differ.
The other thing that sets Tampa apart is the disinfectant. Tampa uses ozone as its primary disinfectant, then adds chlorine and ammonia to form chloramine, which holds up better through long distribution runs. Chloramine behaves differently from free chlorine — it's more persistent, it's harder to remove, and it's the reason Tampa tap water tastes different from Jacksonville's or Orlando's.
Thirty-one substances have been detected in City of Tampa water, and seventeen sit above a health guideline selected by the Environmental Working Group from a federal or state public health authority — the highest count of the three metros we serve, and the only one of the three where PFAS appears. Here is each one, what it was measured at, and what the guideline is protecting against.
| What's in the water | In Tampa water | Health guideline | What the guideline protects against, and who set it |
|---|---|---|---|
PFHxS PFAS — “forever chemical” |
1.69 ppt | 0.001 ppt 1,686× over |
Immune system harm. One of the fluorinated compounds that do not break down in the environment or in the body. Guideline from an EPA toxicity assessment.4 |
PFOS PFAS — “forever chemical” |
3.87 ppt | 0.3 ppt 13× over |
Cardiovascular harm and harm to a developing fetus. The most studied member of the family. Guideline from an EPA toxicity assessment.4 |
PFOA PFAS — “forever chemical” |
1.29 ppt | 0.09 ppt 14× over |
Cancer, cardiovascular harm and fetal harm. Guideline from an EPA toxicity assessment.4 |
Haloacetic acids (HAA9) Disinfection byproduct |
15.3 ppb | 0.06 ppb 254× over |
Cancer. Nine acids that form when disinfectant meets organic matter — and river water carries far more organic matter than aquifer water. One-in-a-million lifetime cancer risk level, peer-reviewed EWG study. No federal legal limit exists for this group.4 |
Haloacetic acids (HAA5) Disinfection byproduct |
14.5 ppb | 0.1 ppb 145× over |
Cancer. The five federally regulated acids within that group. Same one-in-a-million basis.4 |
Total trihalomethanes Disinfection byproduct |
14.5 ppb | 0.15 ppb 97× over |
Cancer. The four-chemical group formed the same way. One-in-a-million lifetime cancer risk level, peer-reviewed EWG study.4 |
Dichloroacetic acid Disinfection byproduct |
7.71 ppb | 0.2 ppb 39× over |
Cancer and reproductive harm. One of the haloacetic acids above, measured on its own as well as in the group. Guideline from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.4 |
Chloroform Disinfection byproduct |
6.66 ppb | 0.4 ppb 17× over |
Cancer and fetal harm. The most common of the four trihalomethanes. Guideline from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.4 |
Bromodichloromethane Disinfection byproduct |
4.66 ppb | 0.06 ppb 78× over |
Cancer and fetal harm. Another of the four, formed when bromide is present in the source water. California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.4 |
Bromate Ozonation byproduct |
2.54 ppb | 0.1 ppb 25× over |
Cancer. Forms when source water containing bromide is treated with ozone — which is how Tampa begins treatment. Guideline from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.4 |
Dibromochloromethane Disinfection byproduct |
2.47 ppb | 0.1 ppb 25× over |
Cancer and fetal harm. The fourth of the trihalomethane group. California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.4 |
Dibromoacetic acid Disinfection byproduct |
1.89 ppb | 0.03 ppb 63× over |
Cancer and fetal harm. Another of the individual haloacetic acids. California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.4 |
Trichloroacetic acid Disinfection byproduct |
1.85 ppb | 0.1 ppb 18× over |
Cancer and reproductive harm. Also one of the five regulated acids. California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.4 |
Nitrate Runoff |
0.347 ppm | 0.14 ppm 2.5× over |
Cancer, and oxygen deprivation in infants. Reaches surface water from fertilizer, manure and septic systems — and Tampa drinks surface water. Guideline from a peer-reviewed EWG study.4 |
Arsenic Naturally occurring |
0.1 ppb | 0.004 ppb 25× over |
Cancer. Occurs naturally in Florida water. Guideline from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment; the federal legal limit is far higher, and Tampa is well inside it.4 |
Chromium (hexavalent) Natural and industrial |
0.0769 ppb | 0.02 ppb 3.8× over |
Cancer. Reaches water from mineral deposits and from industrial pollution. Guideline from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. No federal legal limit.4 |
Radium (226 + 228) Naturally occurring |
0.30 pCi/L | 0.05 pCi/L 6× over |
Bone cancer and other cancers. A radioactive element that occurs naturally in Florida groundwater. Guideline from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.4 |
What a softener will and won't do here. A water softener does not remove PFAS or disinfection byproducts. It removes hardness. If contaminant reduction at the drinking tap is your priority, that's a reverse osmosis conversation, and we'll tell you so rather than selling you a softener for it.
OtterSoft Water
Otter Soft Water is part of the UDI family — UDI Water, United Hydro and Otter Soft Water. Three names, one company, one job: clean water in Southeastern homes. The people installing your system, stocking your parts and answering your service call have been doing exactly this since 1979.
Tampa's hardness alone justifies a softener — and the dry-season peak near 17 grains per gallon is where the appliance damage actually happens.
Handles the hardness across its full seasonal swing, and the activated carbon stage helps with taste and odor. 30,000 grain capacity, Fleck 5600 metered valve, 5-year warranty. The metered valve matters more here than elsewhere, because it adapts as hardness rises and falls through the year.
Given Tampa's contaminant profile, we'd point more Tampa customers toward adding reverse osmosis at the kitchen sink than we would in Jacksonville or Orlando. It's the right tool for what a softener can't touch — including the PFAS and the disinfection byproducts in the table above. Sold separately from the softener.
RO detailsWater in this region varies more than in most metros, because different counties draw from different combinations of sources. Your ZIP tells us which utility you're on before we ever knock on the door.
If you're on Tampa Bay Water, a county or city system, or a private well, the 185 mg/L figure on this page doesn't describe your water. That's exactly why we test at your tap instead of quoting from a utility report.
Tell us who you are and when suits you. A local Otter technician calls to confirm, then brings your price in writing — before you spend $THOUSANDS more at the national brands.