How hard is the water in DeSoto County, FL?
19.8 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in DeSoto County, FL is 339 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 19.8 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 35 samples at 25 sites between 1990 and 2017, drawn from groundwater wells, which is what most taps and private wells in the county draw on.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 10.2 and 28.1 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 19.8 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 DeSoto 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 0.6 to 67.8 gpg
The softest single sample on record in DeSoto County was 9.9 mg/L and the hardest 1,160 mg/L, a 117-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 28.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 10.2 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 19.8 gpg, rivers and lakes 11 gpg
35 groundwater samples from 25 wells put the median at 338.5 mg/L. 233 surface samples from 23 sites put it at 189 mg/L. In DeSoto County the wells come out 8.8 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 32,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 432 lb of salt a year (11 bags of 40 lb, about $78), 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 $178 a year.
Sizing at 19.8 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,188 | 24,000 | 145 lb |
| 2 | 2,376 | 24,000 | 289 lb |
| 4 | 4,752 | 40,000 | 578 lb |
| 6 | 7,128 | 64,000 | 867 lb |
DeSoto County against the rest of Florida
Among the 67 Florida counties with data, DeSoto County is number 5 of 67 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 83% of counties.
Softest in Florida: Washington County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Sarasota County at 32.2 gpg. Closest to DeSoto County: Brevard County (19.6), Monroe County (19.4), Indian River County (18.9).