How hard is the water in Edmonson County, KY?
6.3 grains per gallon
Optional: a softener helps, but plenty of homes skip it.
The median hardness measured in Edmonson County, KY is 108 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 6.3 gpg. That is moderately hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 302 samples at 4 sites between 1993 and 2007, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 5 and 7.9 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 6.3 gpg this is your call. Look for white film on glasses and crust on the shower head: if you see little of either, you can live without one. If you do want one, a 24,000-grain unit is enough, so ask for that size rather than a bigger one. Because Edmonson County straddles a decision line, check your own tap with a $10 test strip before you spend anything.
More on when a softener is not worth it.
From 4.4 to 9.2 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Edmonson County was 75.4 mg/L and the hardest 157 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 7.9 gpg and the bottom quarter below 5 gpg.
Wells 9.2 gpg, rivers and lakes 6.3 gpg
4 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 157 mg/L. 68 surface samples from 2 sites put it at 108.2 mg/L. In Edmonson County the wells come out 2.9 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. The two sources are close, so the county figure should hold whichever one your tap is on.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 138 lb of salt a year (4 bags of 40 lb, about $25), 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 $125 a year.
Sizing at 6.3 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 378 | 24,000 | 46 lb |
| 2 | 756 | 24,000 | 92 lb |
| 4 | 1,512 | 24,000 | 184 lb |
| 6 | 2,268 | 24,000 | 276 lb |
Edmonson County against the rest of Kentucky
Among the 104 Kentucky counties with data, Edmonson County is number 66 of 104 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 36% of counties.
Softest in Kentucky: Letcher County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Jefferson County at 32.9 gpg. Closest to Edmonson County: Muhlenberg County (6.1), Greenup County (6.5), Rockcastle County (6.6).