How hard is the water in Clay County, TX?
8 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Clay County, TX is 137 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 8 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 48 samples at 3 sites between 1990 and 2016, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 6.9 and 27.5 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 8 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 Clay 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 46.9 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Clay County was 99.9 mg/L and the hardest 803.5 mg/L, an 8-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 27.5 gpg and the bottom quarter below 6.9 gpg.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 175 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $31), 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 $131 a year.
Sizing at 8 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 480 | 24,000 | 58 lb |
| 2 | 960 | 24,000 | 117 lb |
| 4 | 1,920 | 24,000 | 234 lb |
| 6 | 2,880 | 24,000 | 350 lb |
Clay County against the rest of Texas
Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Clay County is number 151 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 43% of counties.
Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Clay County: Washington County (8), Fannin County (7.9), Collin County (7.9).