How hard is the water in Crawford County, IN?
10.1 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Crawford County, IN is 172 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 10.1 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 69 samples at 4 sites between 1999 and 2004, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 8.1 and 12.2 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 10.1 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 Crawford 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 14.8 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Crawford County was 100 mg/L and the hardest 253.5 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 12.2 gpg and the bottom quarter below 8.1 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 220 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $40), 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 $140 a year.
Sizing at 10.1 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 606 | 24,000 | 74 lb |
| 2 | 1,212 | 24,000 | 147 lb |
| 4 | 2,424 | 24,000 | 295 lb |
| 6 | 3,636 | 32,000 | 442 lb |
Crawford County against the rest of Indiana
Among the 91 Indiana counties with data, Crawford County is number 81 of 91 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 51% of counties.
Softest in Indiana: Brown County at 3.8 gpg. Hardest: Warrick County at 40.3 gpg. Closest to Crawford County: Porter County (10.2), Newton County (9.8), Monroe County (9.7).