How hard is the water in Chautauqua County, KS?
10.4 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Chautauqua County, KS is 178 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 10.4 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 313 samples at 18 sites between 1990 and 2017, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 8.8 and 12.2 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 10.4 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 Chautauqua 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 4.9 to 14.6 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Chautauqua County was 84 mg/L and the hardest 250 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 12.2 gpg and the bottom quarter below 8.8 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 226 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $41), 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 $141 a year.
Sizing at 10.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 624 | 24,000 | 76 lb |
| 2 | 1,248 | 24,000 | 152 lb |
| 4 | 2,496 | 24,000 | 304 lb |
| 6 | 3,744 | 32,000 | 456 lb |
Chautauqua County against the rest of Kansas
Among the 105 Kansas counties with data, Chautauqua County is number 90 of 105 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 52% of counties.
Softest in Kansas: Woodson County at 6.3 gpg. Hardest: Linn County at 114.5 gpg. Closest to Chautauqua County: Greeley County (10.5), Sheridan County (10.5), Douglas County (10.2).