The water in your tap passed every federal test it will ever take. It also carries radium, arsenic, and forever chemicals at levels today's health researchers flag as unsafe. Both things are true, because the federal radium limit was set in 1976, when gas cost 59 cents a gallon. The science moved. The law didn't.
We pulled the records for all 43 Sauk Valley communities: 340 readings above independent health guidelines. Your town is in there. See exactly what you've been drinking, with every number linked to the government's own records.
Type your town. See each contaminant, the risk, and the fix.
Nobody should need a chemistry degree to read a water report. Here is what each one is, and what long-term exposure is associated with in the research the EPA itself cites. The full plain-English library is in the Water FAQ.
A naturally radioactive metal that seeps into deep wells from the bedrock. Long-term exposure raises bone cancer risk. It has no taste or smell, and it is in 31 of the 39 systems we analyzed. The baseline softener treats it through EPA-recognized ion exchange.
Occurs naturally in the rock our aquifers sit in. Years of exposure are linked to skin, bladder, and lung cancers. Undetectable without a lab, and above health guidelines in 24 of 39 systems here. Reverse osmosis at the drinking tap is the certified answer.
Formed when the chlorine that keeps city water safe reacts with organic matter on the way to your house. Long-term elevated exposure is associated with increased bladder cancer risk. Flagged in 38 of 39 systems, which is why carbon filtration is on almost every build.
Man-made compounds from non-stick coatings and firefighting foam that never break down, in the environment or in you. Linked to immune effects, cholesterol changes, and some cancers; federal limits only arrived in 2024. Found above guidelines in Freeport and Mount Morris. Reverse osmosis removes them.
Because legal limits and current science are two different clocks. The federal radium limit was set in 1976. The trihalomethane limit dates to 1998. Arsenic was last tightened in 2001. Updating a federal drinking water standard takes decades of rulemaking; the health research doesn't wait. So a utility can be perfectly, honestly legal, while the water carries levels today's researchers flag at hundreds of times their guidelines.
Nobody's lying to you. The system is just old. That's why we publish both numbers, side by side, and why every Liberty build is designed against the current science, not the 1976 rulebook.
Independent analysis from the EWG Tap Water Database and each utility's own annual report. Search or click your town for the full breakdown and the link to the original source.
| Box-store DIY | National dealer | Liberty Water | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Designed from your town's actual published data, sources linked | No | Their in-home test, their numbers | Yes, check every line |
| Sales visit in your home | None, but you're on your own | Two to three hours at your kitchen table | Never. One call. |
| Price | Cheapest, unsized, self-installed, self-warrantied | Revealed at the end of the visit | One number on the phone. The price is the price |
| Installation | Three store runs, rented tools, a lost Saturday, and plumbing surprises you discover mid-cut | Varies | Licensed Illinois plumber, permitted where required |
| Proof it works | Hope | Varies | Measured before and after. Balance due only after it passes |
| Year one | On you | Plan sold separately | First year of care included, every tier |
A filter left in too long stops catching contaminants and starts shedding them, and can quietly breed bacteria. A UV lamp past its life looks exactly like a working one, and protects nothing. An empty brine tank means the hard water and the radium came back weeks ago and nobody noticed.
That's why we don't just install systems. We manage them. Your first year of care is included with every install, at every price point: salt checks, cartridge changes where cartridges exist, a six-month audit with the meter on the counter. After that, our care plans keep doing our part, so you never have to think about your water again. That's the whole promise.
A free report, one phone call, one honest number, and a licensed plumber who shows up exactly once: to install. Tested, then the balance. That's the whole thing.
Most homes here start with one thing: ending the hard water. Softer skin, spotless glasses, appliances that live their full lives. In 31 of our 39 systems, the same machine also reduces radium.
From there, add only what your report says you need. Iron filter for staining. Carbon for chlorine and its byproducts. A drinking-water system for the serious lines. All the way to the full Liberty flagship. See the ladder.
| Stage | What it changes for you | Certification basis |
|---|---|---|
| Water softener | No more scale, spots, or crunchy laundry. Appliances last. Also reduces radium, an EPA-recognized treatment | NSF/ANSI 44 |
| Catalytic carbon | Water that tastes like water. Chlorine and its disinfection byproducts gone at your wall | NSF/ANSI 42 / 53 |
| Reverse osmosis | The glass your kids drink, stripped of lead, arsenic, nitrates, PFAS | NSF/ANSI 58 |
| UV sterilization | Boil orders and line breaks stop being your problem | NSF/ANSI 55 |
| Air injection | White laundry stays white; the rotten-egg smell ends for good | Performance spec |
| Leak Guard monitor | The 2 AM burst pipe gets shut off automatically, not discovered at 7 | Performance spec |
The report is free, the call is 15 minutes, and nobody ever comes to your house to sell you. One licensed crew, a limited number of installs each month.