How hard is the water in Erath County, TX?
11.4 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Erath County, TX is 196 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 11.4 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 2 samples at 2 sites between 2016 and 2016, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 8.5 and 14.4 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: low (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 11.4 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 Erath 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.
Wells 17.4 gpg, rivers and lakes 5.5 gpg
1 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 298 mg/L. 1 surface samples from 1 sites put it at 94 mg/L. In Erath County the wells come out 11.9 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. 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 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 250 lb of salt a year (7 bags of 40 lb, about $45), 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 $145 a year.
Sizing at 11.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 684 | 24,000 | 83 lb |
| 2 | 1,368 | 24,000 | 166 lb |
| 4 | 2,736 | 24,000 | 333 lb |
| 6 | 4,104 | 32,000 | 499 lb |
Erath County against the rest of Texas
Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Erath County is number 124 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 56% of counties.
Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Erath County: Live Oak County (11.5), Parmer County (11.7), Carson County (11.7).