How hard is the water in Donley County, TX?
11 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Donley County, TX is 188 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 11 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 1 samples at 1 sites between 1999 and 1999, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 11 and 11 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 11 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.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 240 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $43), 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 $143 a year.
Sizing at 11 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 660 | 24,000 | 80 lb |
| 2 | 1,320 | 24,000 | 161 lb |
| 4 | 2,640 | 24,000 | 321 lb |
| 6 | 3,960 | 32,000 | 482 lb |
Donley County against the rest of Texas
Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Donley County is number 128 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 54% of counties.
Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Donley County: Hartley County (11), Johnson County (10.9), Dallam County (11).