How hard is the water in Franklin County, IL?
9.4 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Franklin County, IL is 161 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 9.4 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 354 samples at 13 sites between 1990 and 2002, 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 11.6 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 9.4 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 Franklin 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 5.6 to 29.2 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Franklin County was 96.5 mg/L and the hardest 499.5 mg/L, a 5-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 11.6 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 205 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $37), 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 $137 a year.
Sizing at 9.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 564 | 24,000 | 69 lb |
| 2 | 1,128 | 24,000 | 137 lb |
| 4 | 2,256 | 24,000 | 274 lb |
| 6 | 3,384 | 24,000 | 412 lb |
Franklin County against the rest of Illinois
Among the 102 Illinois counties with data, Franklin County is number 96 of 102 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 49% of counties.
Softest in Illinois: Pope County at 4.3 gpg. Hardest: Cook County at 34.8 gpg. Closest to Franklin County: Richland County (9), Marion County (9.9), Wayne County (10.1).