How hard is the water in Bollinger County, MO?
9.7 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Bollinger County, MO is 166 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 9.7 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 100 samples at 6 sites between 1999 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 6.5 and 9.8 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 9.7 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 Bollinger 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 4.6 to 11.4 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Bollinger County was 78.2 mg/L and the hardest 195 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 9.8 gpg and the bottom quarter below 6.5 gpg.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 211 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $38), 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 $138 a year.
Sizing at 9.7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 582 | 24,000 | 71 lb |
| 2 | 1,164 | 24,000 | 142 lb |
| 4 | 2,328 | 24,000 | 283 lb |
| 6 | 3,492 | 32,000 | 425 lb |
Bollinger County against the rest of Missouri
Among the 110 Missouri counties with data, Bollinger County is number 92 of 110 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 50% of counties.
Softest in Missouri: Livingston County at 4.1 gpg. Hardest: Reynolds County at 96.7 gpg. Closest to Bollinger County: Ste. Genevieve County (9.6), Marion County (9.8), Ripley County (9.9).