New self-regenerating salt water softeners cannot be installed in Chino Hills. The Inland Empire Utilities Agency ordinance covers this city along with Chino, Fontana, Montclair, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland.
If you already have a salt softener it is grandfathered and you may keep using it. IEUA pays a rebate if you choose to remove it. What you cannot do is install a new one, or replace your existing unit with another salt softener when it eventually fails.
Hardness in Chino Hills
Chino Hills is served by City of Chino Hills Public Works. We do not publish a hardness figure we have not measured, so we test at your hose bib before we quote.
Can you install a water softener in Chino Hills?
Not a new self-regenerating salt one. The ordinance exists because brine from regeneration cycles ends up in the wastewater system and then in the regional groundwater basin, where removing it is expensive.
Existing units predating the ordinance are grandfathered. The moment most homeowners here discover the rule is when their old softener dies and they call for a replacement.
What we install in Chino Hills instead
A 10 GPM standard salt-free whole-home water conditioning system, $2,495 installed with equipment and professional installation included. It is sized for homes up to 3 bathrooms; larger homes are quoted separately. It conditions hardness minerals through template assisted crystallization so they stop forming scale, rather than removing them from the water.
It includes whole-home carbon filtration for chlorine taste and odor, needs no salt and no drain line, and has no regeneration cycle at all. Annual maintenance is one inexpensive filter cartridge. No salt bags to carry, no monthly service fee.
How hard is the water in Chino Hills?
The City of Chino Hills Public Works department manages the water system. We do not publish a hardness figure for the city because we have not measured one consistently enough to stand behind it.
We test at your hose bib before quoting. That is a few minutes of work and it removes the guesswork from sizing.
Hillside lots and where the equipment goes
Chino Hills is exactly what the name says, and the terrain shapes these installs more than it does on the flat. Homes in Vila Borba, Butterfield Ranch and the newer hillside tracts often have garages and utility runs configured around a slope, which affects where a system can physically sit.
The older Los Serranos area is a different building era again, with smaller lots and tighter utility spaces. Salt-free equipment has an advantage on constrained properties because it needs no drain line, which is often the hardest part to route on a hillside lot.
The full ordinance, and the rebate
We wrote a longer page on the IEUA ordinance, which cities it covers, how the grandfathering works, and how the removal rebate is claimed.
Read our salt-free water conditioning guideWater filtration questions from Chino Hills homeowners
Are water softeners banned in Chino Hills?
What happens when my existing softener dies?
Does the hillside terrain affect the install?
Nearby cities we serve
- Water filtration in Chino
- Water filtration in Ontario
- Water filtration in Montclair
- Water filtration in Corona
Not sure which system fits your home? Read our water system guide, or see the main water filtration page for how the options compare.
The $2,495 price is for the 10 GPM standard system, sized for homes up to 3 bathrooms. Homes with 4 or more bathrooms need the 15 GPM system, quoted separately after the on-site walkthrough. Any water line run required by the location of your main is quoted separately in writing after the on-site walkthrough. Taxes and payment processing fees are not included. Price confirmed in writing before any work starts.