Whitefish Bay, Milwaukee County
Whitefish Bay water, by the numbers
The raw water for the whole North Shore is pulled from a pumping station inside Whitefish Bay. It is about as short a trip from lake to tap as this region gets, and it is why the number here barely moves season to season.
Where Whitefish Bay’s water comes from
Whitefish Bay is served by the North Shore Water Commission. Raw water is drawn through the Commission’s pumping station in Whitefish Bay and treated at its filtration plant on West Bender Road in Glendale.
The Commission publishes 137 mg/L, which it converts to about 8 grains per gallon.
The North Shore Water Commission states that on average its water has 137 milligrams per liter of hardness as calcium carbonate, approximately 8 grains per gallon, and describes that as moderate. The Commission supplies Whitefish Bay, Fox Point and Glendale, plus part of the Mequon system.
Source: North Shore Water Commission published FAQ
Eight grains is the softest water around here, and still not soft
On the USGS scale anything above 7 is hard. Eight grains means scale accumulates slowly rather than not at all: over a water heater’s ten-year life it still costs efficiency, glasses still spot, and soap still fights minerals before it cleans. The lake’s hardness comes from the limestone basin it sits in and does not vary much through the year.
Chlorine is the bigger daily annoyance
Municipal supply is chlorinated, and chlorine is most noticeable in a hot shower and in a glass from the tap. Activated carbon at the point of entry takes chlorine taste and odor out of showers, laundry and cooking water; a reverse-osmosis tap at the sink finishes the drinking water. On this supply that pairing is usually a better spend than softening, and we will tell you so at the table.
What we would actually do here
The same thing we do everywhere: read your tap before recommending anything. Hardness, iron, chlorine and TDS, on the spot, in front of you, at no charge. If the numbers justify softening we size it from them; if they point at a drinking-water tap instead, that is what the quote says. On a softener install we run the same test at the end and you watch it read zero.
Softening removes hardness minerals. It is not a health or safety treatment and we do not market it as one. On a private well, Wisconsin’s state-certified lab tests for bacteria and nitrates are a separate matter and not something we sell.
Nearby
Fox Point · Glendale · Wauwatosa · River Hills · Bayside · all of Milwaukee County
A free water test at your Whitefish Bay kitchen table.
Get a quote
Free, at your kitchen table
Book a Whitefish Bay visit
About an hour, at your own table. We read what your Whitefish Bay tap actually runs and quote from that, not from a county average.
- We test. Hardness, iron, chlorine and TDS, read on the spot in front of you. Nothing leaves for a lab.
- We quote. One page, itemized, good for 30 days. Take it, compare it, sleep on it.
- A licensed plumber installs. Its own scheduled visit, permits pulled. A morning’s work.
- We retest to zero. On a softener install, the same test again, and you watch the number land.
In writing, before you sign: Wisconsin’s three-business-day right to cancel an in-home sale, no final payment until the system is installed and verified, and the complete written warranty. Terms apply.