How hard is the water in Boone County, NE?
14.7 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Boone County, NE is 252 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 14.7 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 1 samples at 1 sites between 2002 and 2002, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 14.7 and 14.7 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: low (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 14.7 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.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 322 lb of salt a year (9 bags of 40 lb, about $58), 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 $158 a year.
Sizing at 14.7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 882 | 24,000 | 107 lb |
| 2 | 1,764 | 24,000 | 215 lb |
| 4 | 3,528 | 32,000 | 429 lb |
| 6 | 5,292 | 40,000 | 644 lb |
Boone County against the rest of Nebraska
Among the 89 Nebraska counties with data, Boone County is number 47 of 89 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 68% of counties.
Softest in Nebraska: Blaine County at 2.1 gpg. Hardest: Cedar County at 36.5 gpg. Closest to Boone County: Webster County (14.7), Dixon County (14.8), Sioux County (14.3).