How hard is the water in Cedar County, MO?
11.2 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Cedar County, MO is 193 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 11.2 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 160 samples at 13 sites between 1993 and 2021, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 8.2 and 11.8 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 11.2 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 Cedar 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 4.4 to 13.7 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Cedar County was 75.1 mg/L and the hardest 234 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 11.8 gpg and the bottom quarter below 8.2 gpg.
Wells 12.7 gpg, rivers and lakes 9.9 gpg
3 groundwater samples from 3 wells put the median at 218 mg/L. 157 surface samples from 10 sites put it at 168.8 mg/L. In Cedar County the wells come out 2.8 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. The two sources are close, so the county figure should hold whichever one your tap is on.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 246 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 11.2 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 672 | 24,000 | 82 lb |
| 2 | 1,344 | 24,000 | 164 lb |
| 4 | 2,688 | 24,000 | 327 lb |
| 6 | 4,032 | 32,000 | 491 lb |
Cedar County against the rest of Missouri
Among the 110 Missouri counties with data, Cedar County is number 68 of 110 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 56% of counties.
Softest in Missouri: Livingston County at 4.1 gpg. Hardest: Reynolds County at 96.7 gpg. Closest to Cedar County: Pettis County (11.2), Clinton County (11.4), Moniteau County (11.4).