How hard is the water in Adams County, MS?
8.6 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Adams County, MS is 147 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 8.6 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 13 samples at 6 sites between 1991 and 2013, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 6.7 and 12.3 gpg. That spread crosses a decision line, so some homes here land on a different answer. A $10 test strip on your own tap settles it. Confidence in the county figure: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 8.6 gpg a softener is worth getting, mainly to protect the water heater and cut soap use. Get at least two quotes, ask each installer what grain capacity they are fitting, and check it against the sizing table below. Because Adams County straddles a decision line, check your own tap with a $10 test strip before you spend anything.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 0.2 to 21.2 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Adams County was 3.1 mg/L and the hardest 363 mg/L, a 117-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 12.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 6.7 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 13.1 gpg, rivers and lakes 7.5 gpg
3 groundwater samples from 3 wells put the median at 225 mg/L. 10 surface samples from 3 sites put it at 128 mg/L. In Adams County the wells come out 5.6 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. A utility here that draws from the river can deliver noticeably different water from a private well next door.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 187 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $34), and roughly 2,346 gallons of regeneration water. Installed, most units run $1,000 to $4,500; spread over 15 years with salt, that is about $134 a year.
Sizing at 8.6 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 516 | 24,000 | 63 lb |
| 2 | 1,032 | 24,000 | 126 lb |
| 4 | 2,064 | 24,000 | 251 lb |
| 6 | 3,096 | 24,000 | 377 lb |
Adams County against the rest of Mississippi
Among the 78 Mississippi counties with data, Adams County is number 8 of 78 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 45% of counties.
Softest in Mississippi: Issaquena County at 0.1 gpg. Hardest: Franklin County at 60.5 gpg. Closest to Adams County: Jefferson County (7.8), Union County (7.7), Wilkinson County (7.2).