How hard is the water in DeKalb County, IN?
17.5 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in DeKalb County, IN is 300 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 17.5 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 4 samples at 4 sites between 1998 and 1998, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 16.9 and 32.1 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 17.5 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.
Wells 75.4 gpg, rivers and lakes 17.3 gpg
1 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 1290 mg/L. 3 surface samples from 3 sites put it at 297 mg/L. In DeKalb County the wells come out 58.1 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 382 lb of salt a year (10 bags of 40 lb, about $69), 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 $169 a year.
Sizing at 17.5 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,050 | 24,000 | 128 lb |
| 2 | 2,100 | 24,000 | 256 lb |
| 4 | 4,200 | 32,000 | 511 lb |
| 6 | 6,300 | 48,000 | 767 lb |
DeKalb County against the rest of Indiana
Among the 91 Indiana counties with data, DeKalb County is number 39 of 91 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 77% of counties.
Softest in Indiana: Brown County at 3.8 gpg. Hardest: Warrick County at 40.3 gpg. Closest to DeKalb County: Allen County (17.4), Cass County (17.6), Daviess County (17.3).