How hard is the water in Cheyenne County, NE?
7.2 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Cheyenne County, NE is 123 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 7.2 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 61 samples at 33 sites between 2002 and 2005, 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 4.9 and 10.2 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 7.2 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 Cheyenne 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 0.6 to 17.0 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Cheyenne County was 10.3 mg/L and the hardest 291 mg/L, a 28-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 10.2 gpg and the bottom quarter below 4.9 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 157 lb of salt a year (4 bags of 40 lb, about $28), 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 $128 a year.
Sizing at 7.2 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 432 | 24,000 | 53 lb |
| 2 | 864 | 24,000 | 105 lb |
| 4 | 1,728 | 24,000 | 210 lb |
| 6 | 2,592 | 24,000 | 315 lb |
Cheyenne County against the rest of Nebraska
Among the 89 Nebraska counties with data, Cheyenne County is number 74 of 89 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 40% of counties.
Softest in Nebraska: Blaine County at 2.1 gpg. Hardest: Cedar County at 36.5 gpg. Closest to Cheyenne County: Deuel County (6.8), Dawes County (6.7), Holt County (6.4).