About Sharp Water Culligan

Sharp Water Culligan’s roots on the Delmarva Peninsula go back decades. The business began in 1968 when Servisoft of Delmarva started providing portable exchange tank service to customers across Wicomico, Worcester, Somerset, and Sussex counties. Many of those original customers are still with us today — a reflection of the long-term relationships the company has built throughout the region.

In 1990, Duke Shannahan purchased the company after recognizing the growing need for high-quality drinking water solutions. The Shannahan family had been drilling wells on Delmarva since 1883, giving Duke deep experience with pumps, groundwater, and regional water quality challenges. At the time, the company focused primarily on exchange tank service and bulk resin delivery for commercial and industrial customers, but Duke also saw the opportunity to expand into residential water treatment.

Duke’s son, Duke Jr. — known to most as DJ — joined the company in 1990 and quickly became a driving force behind its growth. Under DJ’s leadership, the company expanded its offerings to include rental equipment, bottled water delivery, salt delivery, and certified water plant operations. In 1998, a second location was opened in Dover, Delaware to serve customers across the Delmarva Peninsula.

DJ and his wife Cindy purchased the company in 2004 and immediately began investing in its future. Within a year they built a new facility in Salisbury, Maryland and completed a major expansion that included a 6,000-square-foot resin regeneration plant. This facility allowed Sharp Water to continue its specialized metered water service, where exhausted resin from commercial systems is collected, regenerated, and reused.

The company continued to grow, earning Top Dealer awards from EcoWater for ten consecutive years. In 2011, DJ and Cindy transitioned the business into the Culligan network by purchasing the Salisbury, Maryland; Dover, Delaware; and Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania Culligan dealerships from Culligan International. Three years later, they acquired three additional Culligan dealerships in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, making Sharp Water one of the largest water treatment companies in the Mid-Atlantic.

DJ led the company for more than two decades while also becoming a recognized leader in the global water treatment industry. He served extensively with the Water Quality Association (WQA), an international organization representing more than 2,500 companies and 800,000 employees involved in water treatment equipment manufacturing, supply, and service.

His contributions include:

In 2025, DJ was inducted into the WQA Hall of Fame, one of the industry’s highest honors.

One of the most important decisions DJ and Cindy made was bringing the next generation into the business. 

Their daughter Kelsey Shannahan joined Sharp Water in 2006, starting her career as a customer service representative before advancing to Office Manager. Today, DJ serves as CEO while Kelsey leads the company as President.

Under Kelsey’s leadership, the Salisbury dealership achieved the highest revenue growth of any Culligan dealership in North America in 2024, and the organization has received the prestigious E.J. Culligan Award three times, recognizing the dealership as one of the top performers in the Culligan network.

The Dover dealership continues to deliver exceptional performance as well, consistently ranking among the highest Net Promoter Score (NPS) results across the Culligan system.

Sharp Water continues to invest in facilities and infrastructure to support the growing needs of residential, commercial, and industrial customers throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

The Salisbury headquarters, originally purchased in 2004, is currently undergoing a major expansion to increase operational capacity. The project includes the addition of two new 6,000-square-foot warehouses to expand inventory for residential and commercial equipment, parts, and bottled water. A full interior renovation is also underway and is expected to be completed by summer 2026.

The Dover area dealership, located in Cheswold, Delaware, was purchased in 2012 after initially operating from the original Culligan facility acquired in 2011. That location is also expanding with the addition of a new 6,000-square-foot multi-use building designed to support sales, service operations, bottled water delivery, and the company’s rapidly growing PFAS treatment division.

These facility upgrades allow Sharp Water Culligan to continue expanding services while maintaining fast response times and reliable support for customers across the region.

Sharp Water Culligan was built on the Delmarva Peninsula, and our team understands the region’s water challenges better than anyone. The Delmarva region presents some of the most complex water quality conditions in the country, including iron, sulfur, hardness, and emerging contaminants such as PFAS.

Our managers bring more than 150 years of combined water treatment expertise, supported by extensive training and industry certifications. Unlike many providers in the region, Sharp Water operates as a full-service dealership, meaning customers can find nearly every water quality solution under one roof.

One of our most unique services is our Metered Water Service. Through this program, exhausted resin from large commercial and industrial water treatment systems is collected by one of our seven tanker trucks and transported back to our regeneration plant where it is restored and reused. This process helps large facilities maintain consistent water quality while reducing operational costs.

Sharp Water has also become one of the region’s leading providers of PFAS treatment systems. Our expertise has helped secure major statewide remediation projects through the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services.

While many customers know Sharp Water Culligan for residential water treatment, the company’s Commercial, Industrial, and Municipal division continues to expand rapidly.

The organization’s primary service footprint covers Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and North Carolina. Through partnerships with engineering firms and water treatment specialists, the company also supports projects well beyond the Mid-Atlantic region.

Sharp Water regularly works with engineers, facility operators, and municipalities to design customized water treatment systems for manufacturing, healthcare, utilities, and other large-scale water infrastructure projects.

PFAS remediation and large-scale filtration systems are a major focus of this division, helping communities and industries meet evolving water quality standards.

Sharp Water Culligan employs more than 50 team members across the Mid-Atlantic region, each specializing in different areas of water treatment and customer service.

Our team includes:

The company also holds Water Plant Operator licenses in both Maryland and Delaware, along with Water Conditioning Installer licenses in Maryland, ensuring that every installation and service project meets strict regulatory standards.

Sharp Water Culligan is proud to support the communities we serve across the Delmarva Peninsula. Giving back has always been an important part of the company’s culture, and the Shannahan family continues to invest in organizations that strengthen the region.

The company partners with Habitat for Humanity, the Humane Society of Wicomico County, and the Shorebirds Community Outreach Foundation. Sharp Water also supports numerous charitable organizations including Relay for Life, Women Supporting Women, Salisbury Urban Ministries, and the Bridge Christian radio ministry.

In addition, the Shannahan family established an endowment with Wor-Wic Community College to support programs that train future plumbers and skilled trades professionals, helping ensure the region continues to develop the workforce needed to support critical infrastructure and water quality improvements.

Sharp Water Culligan is committed to delivering water treatment solutions that customers can trust.

We offer:

Our performance guarantee ensures that your treated water will meet the water quality standards selected during installation. If we cannot make the system perform as specified, customers may qualify for a full refund based on the water quality delivered from the system.

Please call us at (410) 220-6493 or visit any of our locations to experience cleaner, better water with Culligan. 

** Savings reflect typical annual usage for a family of four in a house where water hardness varies. 46% less versus a time clock regeneration softener.