How hard is the water in Colonial Heights city, VA?

1.3 grains per gallon

You do not need a softener here.

The median hardness measured in Colonial Heights city, VA is 22 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 1.3 gpg. That is soft on the USGS scale. It comes from 54 samples at 5 sites between 2001 and 2007, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.

How much it varies here

Half the sites came in between 1.2 and 1.4 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

You can skip the softener. At 1.3 gpg the most a softener would fix is the odd water spot. If a salesperson in Colonial Heights city 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 0.7 to 2.0 gpg

The softest single sample on record in Colonial Heights city was 12 mg/L and the hardest 34 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 1.4 gpg and the bottom quarter below 1.2 gpg.

Colonial Heights city against the rest of Virginia

Among the 126 Virginia counties with data, Colonial Heights city is number 93 of 126 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 10% of counties.

Softest in Virginia: Isle of Wight County at 0.4 gpg. Hardest: Clarke County at 20.1 gpg. Closest to Colonial Heights city: Appomattox County (1.3), Brunswick County (1.3), Caroline County (1.3).