How hard is the water in Columbia County, WI?
12.9 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Columbia County, WI is 220 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 12.9 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 27 samples at 10 sites between 1992 and 2015, 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 17.8 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 12.9 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 5.8 to 20.8 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Columbia County was 99.5 mg/L and the hardest 356 mg/L, a 4-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 17.8 gpg and the bottom quarter below 12.2 gpg.
Wells 16.8 gpg, rivers and lakes 12.6 gpg
10 groundwater samples from 4 wells put the median at 288 mg/L. 17 surface samples from 6 sites put it at 215 mg/L. In Columbia County the wells come out 4.2 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 281 lb of salt a year (8 bags of 40 lb, about $51), 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 $151 a year.
Sizing at 12.9 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 774 | 24,000 | 94 lb |
| 2 | 1,548 | 24,000 | 188 lb |
| 4 | 3,096 | 24,000 | 377 lb |
| 6 | 4,644 | 40,000 | 565 lb |
Columbia County against the rest of Wisconsin
Among the 72 Wisconsin counties with data, Columbia County is number 36 of 72 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 61% of counties.
Softest in Wisconsin: Vilas County at 1.4 gpg. Hardest: Calumet County at 28.4 gpg. Closest to Columbia County: Waushara County (12.6), Marquette County (13.1), Langlade County (13.3).