How hard is the water in Chautauqua County, NY?
9.6 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Chautauqua County, NY is 165 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 9.6 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 36 samples at 32 sites between 1990 and 2021, 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 7.9 and 13.3 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 9.6 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 2.4 to 39.5 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Chautauqua County was 41.8 mg/L and the hardest 677 mg/L, a 16-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 13.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 7.9 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 9.6 gpg, rivers and lakes 7.6 gpg
36 groundwater samples from 32 wells put the median at 165 mg/L. 168 surface samples from 16 sites put it at 129.3 mg/L. In Chautauqua County the wells come out 2.0 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 211 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $38), 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 $138 a year.
Sizing at 9.6 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 576 | 24,000 | 70 lb |
| 2 | 1,152 | 24,000 | 140 lb |
| 4 | 2,304 | 24,000 | 280 lb |
| 6 | 3,456 | 32,000 | 420 lb |
Chautauqua County against the rest of New York
Among the 61 New York counties with data, Chautauqua County is number 32 of 61 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 50% of counties.
Softest in New York: Suffolk County at 1.6 gpg. Hardest: New York County at 161.1 gpg. Closest to Chautauqua County: Chenango County (9.6), Broome County (9.5), Schoharie County (9.3).