How hard is the water in Christian County, IL?
15.1 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Christian County, IL is 259 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 15.1 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 300 samples at 18 sites between 1990 and 2004, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 10.2 and 16.4 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 15.1 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 Christian 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 5.8 to 39.4 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Christian County was 99 mg/L and the hardest 675 mg/L, a 7-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 16.4 gpg and the bottom quarter below 10.2 gpg.
Wells 22.9 gpg, rivers and lakes 14.8 gpg
4 groundwater samples from 4 wells put the median at 392.5 mg/L. 295 surface samples from 13 sites put it at 254 mg/L. In Christian County the wells come out 8.1 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. A utility here that draws from the river can deliver noticeably different water from a private well next door.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 330 lb of salt a year (9 bags of 40 lb, about $59), 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 $159 a year.
Sizing at 15.1 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 906 | 24,000 | 110 lb |
| 2 | 1,812 | 24,000 | 220 lb |
| 4 | 3,624 | 32,000 | 441 lb |
| 6 | 5,436 | 40,000 | 661 lb |
Christian County against the rest of Illinois
Among the 102 Illinois counties with data, Christian County is number 67 of 102 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 70% of counties.
Softest in Illinois: Pope County at 4.3 gpg. Hardest: Cook County at 34.8 gpg. Closest to Christian County: Morgan County (15.1), Fayette County (15.1), Brown County (15.2).