How hard is the water in Cass County, IA?
11.1 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Cass County, IA is 190 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 11.1 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 27 samples at 6 sites between 1991 and 2006, drawn from groundwater wells, which is what most taps and private wells in the county draw on.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 10.1 and 12.6 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 11.1 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. Because Cass 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 9.9 to 35.0 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Cass County was 170 mg/L and the hardest 600 mg/L, a 4-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 12.6 gpg and the bottom quarter below 10.1 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 242 lb of salt a year (7 bags of 40 lb, about $44), 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 $144 a year.
Sizing at 11.1 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 666 | 24,000 | 81 lb |
| 2 | 1,332 | 24,000 | 162 lb |
| 4 | 2,664 | 24,000 | 324 lb |
| 6 | 3,996 | 32,000 | 486 lb |
Cass County against the rest of Iowa
Among the 93 Iowa counties with data, Cass County is number 91 of 93 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 55% of counties.
Softest in Iowa: Taylor County at 8.2 gpg. Hardest: Pocahontas County at 45.3 gpg. Closest to Cass County: Ringgold County (10.1), Decatur County (12.8), Adair County (12.9).