How hard is the water in Clallam County, WA?

2.5 grains per gallon

You do not need a softener here.

The median hardness measured in Clallam County, WA is 44 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 2.5 gpg. That is soft on the USGS scale. It comes from 16 samples at 7 sites between 1994 and 2008, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.

How much it varies here

Half the sites came in between 2.3 and 2.9 gpg. The whole middle of that range gives the same answer, so a test of your own tap is unlikely to change it. Confidence in the county figure: medium (how it is measured).

What to do next

You can skip the softener. At 2.5 gpg the most a softener would fix is the odd water spot. If a salesperson in Clallam County says otherwise, ask to see their reading in grains per gallon and compare it with this one.

More on when a softener is not worth it.

From 2.2 to 4.6 gpg

The softest single sample on record in Clallam County was 37.8 mg/L and the hardest 79.6 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 2.9 gpg and the bottom quarter below 2.3 gpg.

Wells 4.6 gpg, rivers and lakes 2.5 gpg

1 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 79.6 mg/L. 15 surface samples from 6 sites put it at 42 mg/L. In Clallam County the wells come out 2.1 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. The two sources are close, so the county figure should hold whichever one your tap is on.

Clallam County against the rest of Washington

Among the 38 Washington counties with data, Clallam County is number 32 of 38 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 20% of counties.

Softest in Washington: Chelan County at 0.6 gpg. Hardest: Island County at 20.7 gpg. Closest to Clallam County: Kittitas County (2.6), Mason County (2.6), Pacific County (2.3).