How hard is the water in Blackford County, IN?
19 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Blackford County, IN is 326 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 19 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 84 samples at 11 sites between 1998 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 14.6 and 23.9 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 19 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 7.6 to 32.7 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Blackford County was 130 mg/L and the hardest 560 mg/L, a 4-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 23.9 gpg and the bottom quarter below 14.6 gpg.
Wells 32.7 gpg, rivers and lakes 18 gpg
1 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 560 mg/L. 83 surface samples from 10 sites put it at 308 mg/L. In Blackford County the wells come out 14.7 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 416 lb of salt a year (11 bags of 40 lb, about $75), 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 $175 a year.
Sizing at 19 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,140 | 24,000 | 139 lb |
| 2 | 2,280 | 24,000 | 277 lb |
| 4 | 4,560 | 32,000 | 555 lb |
| 6 | 6,840 | 48,000 | 832 lb |
Blackford County against the rest of Indiana
Among the 91 Indiana counties with data, Blackford County is number 26 of 91 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 82% of counties.
Softest in Indiana: Brown County at 3.8 gpg. Hardest: Warrick County at 40.3 gpg. Closest to Blackford County: Rush County (19), Hendricks County (19.2), Madison County (19.3).