How hard is the water in Dent County, MO?
11.1 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Dent County, MO is 190 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 11.1 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 126 samples at 16 sites between 1993 and 2023, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 10.1 and 12.8 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 11.1 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. Because Dent 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 6.1 to 20.5 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Dent County was 104.6 mg/L and the hardest 351 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 12.8 gpg and the bottom quarter below 10.1 gpg.
Wells 16.4 gpg, rivers and lakes 10.3 gpg
4 groundwater samples from 4 wells put the median at 280.5 mg/L. 122 surface samples from 12 sites put it at 176.8 mg/L. In Dent County the wells come out 6.1 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 242 lb of salt a year (7 bags of 40 lb, about $44), 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 $144 a year.
Sizing at 11.1 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 666 | 24,000 | 81 lb |
| 2 | 1,332 | 24,000 | 162 lb |
| 4 | 2,664 | 24,000 | 324 lb |
| 6 | 3,996 | 32,000 | 486 lb |
Dent County against the rest of Missouri
Among the 110 Missouri counties with data, Dent County is number 70 of 110 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 55% of counties.
Softest in Missouri: Livingston County at 4.1 gpg. Hardest: Reynolds County at 96.7 gpg. Closest to Dent County: New Madrid County (11), Atchison County (11), Cooper County (11).