How hard is the water in Clinton County, OH?
15.2 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Clinton County, OH is 260 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 15.2 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 310 samples at 62 sites between 1997 and 2018, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 12.2 and 18 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 15.2 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 7.9 to 30.6 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Clinton County was 135.5 mg/L and the hardest 524 mg/L, a 4-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 18 gpg and the bottom quarter below 12.2 gpg.
Wells 22.5 gpg, rivers and lakes 15 gpg
2 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 385 mg/L. 267 surface samples from 57 sites put it at 257 mg/L. In Clinton County the wells come out 7.5 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 331 lb of salt a year (9 bags of 40 lb, about $60), 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 $160 a year.
Sizing at 15.2 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 912 | 24,000 | 111 lb |
| 2 | 1,824 | 24,000 | 222 lb |
| 4 | 3,648 | 32,000 | 444 lb |
| 6 | 5,472 | 40,000 | 666 lb |
Clinton County against the rest of Ohio
Among the 88 Ohio counties with data, Clinton County is number 62 of 88 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 70% of counties.
Softest in Ohio: Scioto County at 5.7 gpg. Hardest: Perry County at 113.3 gpg. Closest to Clinton County: Erie County (14.9), Lucas County (15), Medina County (15).