How hard is the water in Christian County, MO?
9.9 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Christian County, MO is 170 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 9.9 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 8 samples at 8 sites between 1991 and 2023, 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 9.3 and 12.1 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 9.9 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 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 8.7 to 13.3 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Christian County was 149 mg/L and the hardest 228 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 12.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 9.3 gpg.
Wells 9.9 gpg, rivers and lakes 11.4 gpg
8 groundwater samples from 8 wells put the median at 169.5 mg/L. 213 surface samples from 19 sites put it at 195.5 mg/L. In Christian County the rivers and lakes come out 1.5 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 216 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $39), 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 $139 a year.
Sizing at 9.9 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 594 | 24,000 | 72 lb |
| 2 | 1,188 | 24,000 | 145 lb |
| 4 | 2,376 | 24,000 | 289 lb |
| 6 | 3,564 | 32,000 | 434 lb |
Christian County against the rest of Missouri
Among the 110 Missouri counties with data, Christian County is number 89 of 110 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 51% of counties.
Softest in Missouri: Livingston County at 4.1 gpg. Hardest: Reynolds County at 96.7 gpg. Closest to Christian County: Marion County (9.8), Ripley County (9.9), Wright County (10).