How hard is the water in Elbert County, CO?
7 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Elbert County, CO is 120 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 7 gpg. That is moderately hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 215 samples at 29 sites between 1991 and 2024, 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 3.2 and 61.9 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 7 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 Elbert 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 0.4 to 140.2 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Elbert County was 7.1 mg/L and the hardest 2,400 mg/L, a 338-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 61.9 gpg and the bottom quarter below 3.2 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 7 gpg, rivers and lakes 7.2 gpg
215 groundwater samples from 29 wells put the median at 120 mg/L. 228 surface samples from 13 sites put it at 124 mg/L. In Elbert County the rivers and lakes come out 0.2 gpg harder. Here the surface water reads harder than the wells, which often points to streams fed by limestone springs or irrigation return flow. 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 153 lb of salt a year (4 bags of 40 lb, about $28), 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 $128 a year.
Sizing at 7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 420 | 24,000 | 51 lb |
| 2 | 840 | 24,000 | 102 lb |
| 4 | 1,680 | 24,000 | 204 lb |
| 6 | 2,520 | 24,000 | 307 lb |
Elbert County against the rest of Colorado
Among the 63 Colorado counties with data, Elbert County is number 47 of 63 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 39% of counties.
Softest in Colorado: Larimer County at 0.4 gpg. Hardest: Mesa County at 143.7 gpg. Closest to Elbert County: Teller County (7), Dolores County (6.7), Douglas County (6.5).