How hard is the water in Clay County, IA?
22.3 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Clay County, IA is 383 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 22.3 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 5 samples at 4 sites between 1991 and 2006, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 19.2 and 26.4 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
At 22.3 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.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 16.4 to 32.1 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Clay County was 281 mg/L and the hardest 550 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 26.4 gpg and the bottom quarter below 19.2 gpg.
Wells 24.5 gpg, rivers and lakes 16.4 gpg
4 groundwater samples from 3 wells put the median at 420 mg/L. 1 surface samples from 1 sites put it at 281 mg/L. In Clay 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 32,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 488 lb of salt a year (13 bags of 40 lb, about $88), 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 $188 a year.
Sizing at 22.3 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,338 | 24,000 | 163 lb |
| 2 | 2,676 | 24,000 | 326 lb |
| 4 | 5,352 | 40,000 | 651 lb |
| 6 | 8,028 | 64,000 | 977 lb |
Clay County against the rest of Iowa
Among the 93 Iowa counties with data, Clay County is number 31 of 93 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 88% of counties.
Softest in Iowa: Taylor County at 8.2 gpg. Hardest: Pocahontas County at 45.3 gpg. Closest to Clay County: Wapello County (22.5), Wright County (22.5), Winnebago County (22.2).