How hard is the water in Clare County, MI?
6.4 grains per gallon
Optional: a softener helps, but plenty of homes skip it.
The median hardness measured in Clare County, MI is 110 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 6.4 gpg. That is moderately hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 18 samples at 18 sites between 2001 and 2013, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 4.1 and 8 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 6.4 gpg this is your call. Look for white film on glasses and crust on the shower head: if you see little of either, you can live without one. If you do want one, a 24,000-grain unit is enough, so ask for that size rather than a bigger one. Because Clare County straddles a decision line, check your own tap with a $10 test strip before you spend anything.
More on when a softener is not worth it.
From 1.6 to 15.4 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Clare County was 27 mg/L and the hardest 263 mg/L, a 10-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 8 gpg and the bottom quarter below 4.1 gpg.
Wells 15.4 gpg, rivers and lakes 6.4 gpg
1 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 263 mg/L. 17 surface samples from 17 sites put it at 110 mg/L. In Clare County the wells come out 9.0 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. 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 140 lb of salt a year (4 bags of 40 lb, about $25), 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 $125 a year.
Sizing at 6.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 384 | 24,000 | 47 lb |
| 2 | 768 | 24,000 | 93 lb |
| 4 | 1,536 | 24,000 | 187 lb |
| 6 | 2,304 | 24,000 | 280 lb |
Clare County against the rest of Michigan
Among the 82 Michigan counties with data, Clare County is number 63 of 82 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 36% of counties.
Softest in Michigan: Luce County at 1.9 gpg. Hardest: Wayne County at 47.4 gpg. Closest to Clare County: Lake County (6.4), Delta County (5.8), Alcona County (7).