How hard is the water in Cumberland County, KY?
9.5 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Cumberland County, KY is 163 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 9.5 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 40 samples at 2 sites between 2000 and 2005, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 9.4 and 9.7 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 9.5 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.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 9.2 to 9.8 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Cumberland County was 157.5 mg/L and the hardest 168.5 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 9.7 gpg and the bottom quarter below 9.4 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 208 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $37), 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 $137 a year.
Sizing at 9.5 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 570 | 24,000 | 69 lb |
| 2 | 1,140 | 24,000 | 139 lb |
| 4 | 2,280 | 24,000 | 277 lb |
| 6 | 3,420 | 24,000 | 416 lb |
Cumberland County against the rest of Kentucky
Among the 104 Kentucky counties with data, Cumberland County is number 41 of 104 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 49% of counties.
Softest in Kentucky: Letcher County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Jefferson County at 32.9 gpg. Closest to Cumberland County: Boyd County (9.5), Green County (9.5), Clinton County (9.6).