Cahaba Water Co.
Leeds drinks two different waters.
The city lists two providers: Leeds Water Works and Central Alabama Water. That is not an administrative detail. One pumps groundwater and the other treats surface water, and the two reports do not read alike — least of all on the byproducts that chlorine leaves behind.
The same town, side by side.
Leeds Water Works is PWSID AL0000753, listed by the state as a groundwater system. Central Alabama Water is AL0000738, surface water. Which one serves your address decides which column below applies to you.
| What | Leeds Water Works | Central Alabama Water | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source | Groundwater | Surface water | — |
| Total hardness | Not published | 38–224 mg/L · 2.2–13.1 gpg | No limit — aesthetic |
| Trihalomethanes (TTHM) | 10.4 ppb | 11.4 – 26.0 ppb | 80 ppb |
| Haloacetic acids (HAA5) | Non-detect | 11.7 – 34.3 ppb | 60 ppb |
| Chlorine | 2.3 ppm | 1.47 – 2.85 ppm | 4.0 ppm MRDL |
| Chloramines | Non-detect — so free chlorine | Free chlorine | 4.0 ppm |
| Lead, 90th percentile | 2 ppb | 3 ppb | 15 ppb action level |
| Nitrate | 1.35 ppm | — | 10 ppm |
Leeds figures from the Water Works Board of the City of Leeds, 2025 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report covering the 2024 period. Central Alabama Water figures from its 2026 Annual Water Quality Report covering 2025 data. Source classifications from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management's public water system inventory. Every figure above is inside its limit.
The hardness row is the honest problem. Leeds Water Works does not publish a hardness figure — not in its primary table and not in its unregulated table. Hardness is not a regulated contaminant, so no utility is obliged to report it, and this one does not. If you are on Leeds Water Works, there is no published number for your water, from anyone. That is not us being coy; it genuinely does not exist.
Different answers on the same street grid.
Two providers, two source types, two sets of numbers. The sensible next step is not the same on both.
- On Leeds Water Works, byproducts are near the floor. Trihalomethanes at 10.4 against a limit of 80, and haloacetic acids at non-detect. Heavy carbon aimed specifically at disinfection byproducts has very little to remove here, and the budget usually does more work elsewhere in the house.
- On Leeds Water Works, hardness is a genuine unknown. Nobody publishes it. Groundwater in this part of Alabama often runs hard — Trussville, the other large groundwater system nearby, publishes 8.9 grains — but often is not a measurement, and we will not put Trussville's number on your house. A test is the only way to know.
- On Central Alabama Water, hardness is a range, not a number. 2.2 to 13.1 grains across the system, slightly hard at one end and very hard at the other, with no breakdown by neighborhood. Same conclusion, different reason: measure it.
- An under-sink reverse osmosis system works on either. It is a standard appliance, it handles any potable city water, and it needs no test to specify. The price is published. That part of the decision does not depend on which utility bills you.
If you are not sure which provider you are on, your water bill answers it immediately. The City of Leeds lists both, and the boundary does not follow anything you can see from the street.
Leeds water, answered.
Who provides water in Leeds?
Two utilities. The City of Leeds lists both Leeds Water Works and Central Alabama Water. The city does not publish a boundary between them, so your water bill is the fastest way to tell which one serves your address.
How hard is Leeds water?
If you are on Leeds Water Works, nobody publishes a figure. Hardness is not a regulated contaminant, so utilities are not required to report it, and Leeds Water Works does not — it appears in neither the primary nor the unregulated table of its 2025 report.
If you are on Central Alabama Water, the published range is 38 to 224 mg/L across the whole system, about 2.2 to 13.1 grains per gallon, with no breakdown by neighborhood. Either way the only number that describes your house is one measured at your tap.
Why are the two reports so different on byproducts?
Because of the source, not the treatment. Trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids form when chlorine meets organic matter. Groundwater that has sat in rock carries very little of it; surface water from lakes and rivers carries more.
Leeds Water Works reports trihalomethanes at 10.4 ppb and haloacetic acids at non-detect. Central Alabama Water reports 11.4 to 26.0 and 11.7 to 34.3. Both are inside their limits of 80 and 60. It is a structural difference between groundwater and surface water, and the same pattern shows up at Trussville and Irondale, the other groundwater systems in the county.
Do I need a water softener in Leeds?
We cannot answer that from published data, which is unusual — on most systems we can at least give you the range. On Leeds Water Works there is no published hardness figure at all, and on Central Alabama Water the range is wide enough to land on either side of the decision.
So this is one of the places the free mailed test actually earns its keep. You run it yourself in about two minutes, nobody comes to the house, and then there is a number to talk about instead of an assumption.
Do you serve Leeds?
Yes, on both systems. Under-sink reverse osmosis, whole-home treatment, and ongoing filter service. Installation is performed by an Alabama-licensed plumbing contractor. Our full service area is here.
Nobody publishes your hardness. We will measure it.
On Leeds Water Works there is no number to look up, and on Central Alabama Water there is only a range. We mail a test kit, free. You run it yourself and keep the result.