How hard is the water in Ferry County, WA?
7.8 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Ferry County, WA is 134 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 7.8 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 118 samples at 10 sites between 2000 and 2014, 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 5.5 and 11.1 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 7.8 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 Ferry 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 3.4 to 49.3 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Ferry County was 59 mg/L and the hardest 844 mg/L, a 14-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 11.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 5.5 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 7.8 gpg, rivers and lakes 4.1 gpg
118 groundwater samples from 10 wells put the median at 133.5 mg/L. 11 surface samples from 3 sites put it at 70.8 mg/L. In Ferry County the wells come out 3.7 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 170 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $31), 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 $131 a year.
Sizing at 7.8 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 468 | 24,000 | 57 lb |
| 2 | 936 | 24,000 | 114 lb |
| 4 | 1,872 | 24,000 | 228 lb |
| 6 | 2,808 | 24,000 | 342 lb |
Ferry County against the rest of Washington
Among the 38 Washington counties with data, Ferry County is number 8 of 38 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 42% of counties.
Softest in Washington: Chelan County at 0.6 gpg. Hardest: Island County at 20.7 gpg. Closest to Ferry County: Pend Oreille County (7.6), Skagit County (8.1), Asotin County (7.3).