How hard is the water in Douglas County, KS?
10.2 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Douglas County, KS is 175 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 10.2 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 814 samples at 20 sites between 1990 and 2017, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 7 and 13.3 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 10.2 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. Because Douglas 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 4.4 to 17.8 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Douglas County was 76 mg/L and the hardest 305 mg/L, a 4-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 13.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 7 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 223 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $40), 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 $140 a year.
Sizing at 10.2 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 612 | 24,000 | 74 lb |
| 2 | 1,224 | 24,000 | 149 lb |
| 4 | 2,448 | 24,000 | 298 lb |
| 6 | 3,672 | 32,000 | 447 lb |
Douglas County against the rest of Kansas
Among the 105 Kansas counties with data, Douglas County is number 91 of 105 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 52% of counties.
Softest in Kansas: Woodson County at 6.3 gpg. Hardest: Linn County at 114.5 gpg. Closest to Douglas County: Chautauqua County (10.4), Elk County (9.9), Franklin County (9.9).