How hard is the water in Big Stone County, MN?
35.3 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Big Stone County, MN is 605 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 35.3 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 27 samples at 13 sites between 2014 and 2023, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 28 and 50.8 gpg. The whole middle of that range gives the same answer, so a test of your own tap is unlikely to change it. Confidence in the county figure: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 35.3 gpg a softener pays its way here. Before you buy, check the quoted unit's grain capacity against the sizing table below, and ask whether it regenerates on demand, which uses less salt than a timer. Call your utility for its own report if you are on city water.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 19.3 to 105.1 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Big Stone County was 330 mg/L and the hardest 1,800 mg/L, a 5-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 50.8 gpg and the bottom quarter below 28 gpg.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 48,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 772 lb of salt a year (20 bags of 40 lb, about $139), 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 $239 a year.
Sizing at 35.3 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2,118 | 24,000 | 258 lb |
| 2 | 4,236 | 32,000 | 515 lb |
| 4 | 8,472 | 64,000 | 1,031 lb |
| 6 | 12,708 | twin tank | 1,546 lb |
Big Stone County against the rest of Minnesota
Among the 87 Minnesota counties with data, Big Stone County is number 2 of 87 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 96% of counties.
Softest in Minnesota: Lake County at 1.3 gpg. Hardest: Traverse County at 42.6 gpg. Closest to Big Stone County: Yellow Medicine County (32.8), Lyon County (32.1), Lac qui Parle County (29.7).