WaterGuard Joins Knoxville Chamber as Premier Partner

Athens-based custom water filtration company deepens commitment to the greater Knoxville area

WaterGuard, a custom whole-home water filtration and treatment company serving homeowners across the greater Knoxville area, joined the Knoxville Chamber as a Premier Partner on May 12, 2026 — just over a month after the company formalized operations on April 5, 2026. WaterGuard serves homeowners and businesses across the East Tennessee corridor, from Knoxville to Chattanooga.

“What stood out from our very first conversation was the energy. The Knoxville Chamber brings a level of professionalism and a genuinely holistic approach to growing the greater Knoxville area through local business — that’s exactly the kind of partnership we wanted to be part of.”
— Luke Dalton, Co-Founder, WaterGuard

For Luke and Michael, the partnership is about more than membership. WaterGuard has built its business on an education-first approach to water treatment, starting every customer relationship with a comprehensive on-site water test before any system is recommended.

“Our goal is to be the number one educator on home water quality in East Tennessee, and we believe the Knoxville Chamber can help us get there.”
— Luke Dalton, Co-Founder, WaterGuard

A different approach to a common problem

Most water filtration systems sold in East Tennessee are pulled off the shelf and installed without much regard for the specific chemistry of the home they are going into. WaterGuard’s process starts with the opposite: a comprehensive on-site water test of the actual home, followed by a system engineered specifically for the iron, hardness, pH, and other parameters found in that home’s water.

Two homes on the same road can have very different water, and a system that works at one house can fail at the next within months. That mismatch is the leading cause of premature equipment failure in residential water treatment — and the problem WaterGuard was built to solve.

Industry-leading technical expertise

WaterGuard was co-founded by Luke Dalton and Michael Moody, with veteran water specialist Jason Burger joining the founding team on April 5, 2026 as Operations and Product Director. Burger came to WaterGuard after years in the water treatment industry, most recently with a water treatment manufacturer in Knoxville. He is also the founder of Source to Service Water Consulting LLC, a technical consulting practice he continues to operate part-time, and the host of Source Talk, an industry podcast.

His credentials include:
•NGWA Certified Well Driller (CWD) — issued by the National Ground Water Association
•NGWA Certified Pump Installer (CPI)
•TDEC-T certification — issued by the Tennessee Department of Environmental Conservation for water treatment
•Tennessee Limited Licensed Plumber (LLP)

That combination of credentials — covering well, pump, treatment, and plumbing — paired with Burger’s manufacturing and consulting experience is unusual at any scale and rare for a residential water company serving the greater Knoxville area.

Local roots, regional service

WaterGuard is headquartered in downtown Athens, Tennessee, and serves homeowners across the greater Knoxville area and surrounding region from Knoxville to Chattanooga. For Luke and Michael, the Knoxville Chamber Premier Partnership is one step in a larger ambition — making East Tennessee a region where every family knows what’s in their water and what to do about it. Homeowners interested in scheduling a comprehensive on-site water analysis can reach WaterGuard at 423-506-1044, by email at [email protected], or online at waterguardco.com.