How hard is the water in Chase County, NE?
8.1 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Chase County, NE is 139 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 8.1 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 77 samples at 73 sites between 1998 and 2002, 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 7.7 and 9.1 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 8.1 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.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 5.7 to 17.5 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Chase County was 98.4 mg/L and the hardest 299 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 9.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 7.7 gpg.
Wells 8.1 gpg, rivers and lakes 9.3 gpg
77 groundwater samples from 73 wells put the median at 139 mg/L. 1 surface samples from 1 sites put it at 160 mg/L. In Chase County the rivers and lakes come out 1.2 gpg harder. Here the surface water reads harder than the wells, which often points to streams fed by limestone springs or irrigation return flow. 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 177 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $32), 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 $132 a year.
Sizing at 8.1 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 486 | 24,000 | 59 lb |
| 2 | 972 | 24,000 | 118 lb |
| 4 | 1,944 | 24,000 | 237 lb |
| 6 | 2,916 | 24,000 | 355 lb |
Chase County against the rest of Nebraska
Among the 89 Nebraska counties with data, Chase County is number 73 of 89 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 43% of counties.
Softest in Nebraska: Blaine County at 2.1 gpg. Hardest: Cedar County at 36.5 gpg. Closest to Chase County: Perkins County (8.8), Cheyenne County (7.2), Banner County (9.1).