How hard is the water in Concho County, TX?
39 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Concho County, TX is 667 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 39 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 77 samples at 1 sites between 1990 and 2003, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 39 and 39 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: low (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 39 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 39.0 to 39.0 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Concho County was 667 mg/L and the hardest 667 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 39 gpg and the bottom quarter below 39 gpg.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 64,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 851 lb of salt a year (22 bags of 40 lb, about $153), 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 $253 a year.
Sizing at 39 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2,340 | 24,000 | 285 lb |
| 2 | 4,680 | 40,000 | 569 lb |
| 4 | 9,360 | 80,000 | 1,139 lb |
| 6 | 14,040 | twin tank | 1,708 lb |
Concho County against the rest of Texas
Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Concho County is number 23 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 97% of counties.
Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Concho County: Armstrong County (38.8), Montague County (37.5), Throckmorton County (37.2).