Prime Flow Filtration

Iowa has the 2nd-highest cancer rate in America, and it's one of only two states where it's still rising.

Almost everywhere else, rates are finally falling. Not here. A lot of it traces back to four things in our environment, and they all end up in the same place: our water.

• Pesticides. Iowa sprays the 4th-most by weight of any state. The report's own words: the impact "may be similar to that of smoking."
• Nitrate. The Des Moines and Raccoon rivers rank in the top 1% of U.S. rivers for nitrate, 80% of it linked to farm runoff.
• PFAS, the "forever chemicals," found in 94% of Iowa's surface water.
• Radon. The EPA doesn't even regulate it in drinking water.

Here's the number that stuck with me: the legal limit for nitrate is 10 mg/L. But a study found people drinking well water above just 2.5, a quarter of the limit, had a 200% higher risk of colorectal cancer over 10 years. And only 4% of Iowa's water systems can even remove nitrate. So a test that "passes" still isn't the same thing as safe.

Behind those numbers are 170,000 Iowans living with a diagnosis right now. Everything on that list has one thing in common: it's in our drinking water. The risk you never agreed to, and the one you can actually filter out.

Source: Environmental Risk Factors and Iowa's Cancer Crisis, from the Iowa Environmental Council and The Harkin Institute, 2026. These are associations researchers are studying, not proof any single factor causes cancer.

Want to know what's actually in your water? We'll test it free anywhere in the Des Moines metro, no pitch. Link in bio.

Iowa grows more corn than almost anywhere on earth. Here's what that has to do with your tap water.

Nitrogen fertilizer runs off farmland into the same rivers Des Moines drinks from. The legal limit is 10 mg/L — and in June 2026 it got high enough that 600,000 of us were asked to stop watering our lawns.

A basic pitcher filter does nothing for nitrate. Reverse osmosis pulls it out at your tap.

Comment NITRATE for the real Des Moines numbers and a free water reading. Link in bio too.

"Isn't reverse osmosis water too pure?"

Short answer: sort of, RO removes basically everything nitrate, lead, PFAS, chlorine… and the minerals too. And that's fine, because you get your minerals from food, not water.

Here's the part people miss: my system adds minerals back not for nutrition, but because it makes the water taste better and keeps the pH balanced instead of slightly acidic. So it's not flat, "dead" water. It's clean, balanced water.

Comment CLEAN for exactly what my system removes and adds back. Link in bio too.

A carbon pitcher or fridge filter is certified for chlorine taste and odor (NSF/ANSI 42). It does that job well, which is exactly why you may notice "filtered" water tastes better. But "filtered" really means taste. It doesn't mean the water is stripped of what can actually harm you.

That gap matters more in Iowa than almost anywhere. Our drinking water is pulled from the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers, which flow through some of the most fertilized farmland on earth. The EPA's legal limit for nitrate is 10 mg/L. In June 2025 levels ran so high that 600,000 metro residents were asked to stop watering their lawns. Activated carbon reduces none of it: not nitrate, not PFAS "forever chemicals."

Removing those takes a different system. The iSpring RCC7AK is a 6-stage reverse osmosis system that forces your water through an RO membrane fine enough to pull out nitrate, PFAS, lead and 90%+ of dissolved solids, then the cool part, it adds calcium and magnesium back in the final stage for taste and balanced pH.

So there's no reason to toss the pitcher. Just don't confuse "tastes clean" as "is clean." The only way to know which system your house actually needs is to test your tap, it's a free, 20-minute, no-pressure visit.

Comment BRITA and I'll send the full side-by-side with the sources and get you booked. Link in bio too.

$2,000. That's what most families spend on bottled water in about two years, without noticing.

Single bottle: $1.99. A case a week: $18. Do that 52 weeks and you've got a real number.
My system starts at $699 installed full RO, done in a day. Serving the Des Moines metro.
Comment COST and I'll send you the full breakdown, year by year.

Walked into this kitchen, drilled a faucet hole, ran the lines, mounted the system under the sink, and was done in under 90 minutes.

6-stage RO. Removes lead, PFAS, nitrates, arsenic, chlorine, and bacteria. The last stage adds minerals back so the water actually tastes good.

$699 gets you the system and the install. That's it.

Link in bio to book. 💧

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