How hard is the water in Estill County, KY?
8.3 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Estill County, KY is 142 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 8.3 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 81 samples at 3 sites between 1999 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 6.7 and 8.3 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 8.3 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 Estill 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 5.1 to 8.3 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Estill County was 87.3 mg/L and the hardest 142 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 8.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 6.7 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 181 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $33), 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 $133 a year.
Sizing at 8.3 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 498 | 24,000 | 61 lb |
| 2 | 996 | 24,000 | 121 lb |
| 4 | 1,992 | 24,000 | 242 lb |
| 6 | 2,988 | 24,000 | 364 lb |
Estill County against the rest of Kentucky
Among the 104 Kentucky counties with data, Estill County is number 51 of 104 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 44% of counties.
Softest in Kentucky: Letcher County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Jefferson County at 32.9 gpg. Closest to Estill County: Butler County (8.3), Daviess County (8.1), Larue County (8.1).