How hard is the water in Fayette County, IL?
15.1 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Fayette County, IL is 258 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 15.1 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 378 samples at 14 sites between 1990 and 2004, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 14.1 and 16.2 gpg. The whole middle of that range gives the same answer, so a test of your own tap is unlikely to change it. Confidence in the county figure: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 15.1 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.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 3.7 to 31.5 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Fayette County was 64 mg/L and the hardest 540 mg/L, an 8-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 16.2 gpg and the bottom quarter below 14.1 gpg.
Wells 31.5 gpg, rivers and lakes 15 gpg
7 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 540 mg/L. 371 surface samples from 13 sites put it at 257 mg/L. In Fayette County the wells come out 16.5 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 329 lb of salt a year (9 bags of 40 lb, about $59), 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 $159 a year.
Sizing at 15.1 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 906 | 24,000 | 110 lb |
| 2 | 1,812 | 24,000 | 220 lb |
| 4 | 3,624 | 32,000 | 441 lb |
| 6 | 5,436 | 40,000 | 661 lb |
Fayette County against the rest of Illinois
Among the 102 Illinois counties with data, Fayette County is number 68 of 102 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 69% of counties.
Softest in Illinois: Pope County at 4.3 gpg. Hardest: Cook County at 34.8 gpg. Closest to Fayette County: Schuyler County (15), Christian County (15.1), Morgan County (15.1).