How hard is the water in Franklin County, ME?

3.2 grains per gallon

You do not need a softener here.

The median hardness measured in Franklin County, ME is 54 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 3.2 gpg. That is soft on the USGS scale. It comes from 13 samples at 9 sites between 1990 and 2011, 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 2.8 and 3.6 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: medium (how it is measured).

What to do next

You can skip the softener. At 3.2 gpg the most a softener would fix is the odd water spot. If a salesperson in Franklin County says otherwise, ask to see their reading in grains per gallon and compare it with this one. Because Franklin County straddles a decision line, check your own tap with a $10 test strip before you spend anything.

More on when a softener is not worth it.

From 0.6 to 9.3 gpg

The softest single sample on record in Franklin County was 10 mg/L and the hardest 160 mg/L, a 16-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 3.6 gpg and the bottom quarter below 2.8 gpg.

Wells 3.2 gpg, rivers and lakes 0.2 gpg

13 groundwater samples from 9 wells put the median at 54.3 mg/L. 10 surface samples from 5 sites put it at 3.1 mg/L. In Franklin County the wells come out 3.0 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.

Franklin County against the rest of Maine

Among the 16 Maine counties with data, Franklin County is number 8 of 16 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 22% of counties.

Softest in Maine: Lincoln County at 0.7 gpg. Hardest: Penobscot County at 6.9 gpg. Closest to Franklin County: Androscoggin County (3.1), Oxford County (2.8), Kennebec County (3.4).