How hard is the water in Frontier County, NE?
12.1 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Frontier County, NE is 207 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 12.1 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 7 samples at 7 sites between 1997 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 10.8 and 13.1 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 12.1 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 9.9 to 15.3 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Frontier County was 170 mg/L and the hardest 262 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 13.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 10.8 gpg.
Wells 12.1 gpg, rivers and lakes 11 gpg
7 groundwater samples from 7 wells put the median at 207 mg/L. 3 surface samples from 3 sites put it at 189 mg/L. In Frontier County the wells come out 1.1 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. The two sources are close, so the county figure should hold whichever one your tap is on.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 264 lb of salt a year (7 bags of 40 lb, about $48), 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 $148 a year.
Sizing at 12.1 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 726 | 24,000 | 88 lb |
| 2 | 1,452 | 24,000 | 177 lb |
| 4 | 2,904 | 24,000 | 353 lb |
| 6 | 4,356 | 32,000 | 530 lb |
Frontier County against the rest of Nebraska
Among the 89 Nebraska counties with data, Frontier County is number 61 of 89 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 59% of counties.
Softest in Nebraska: Blaine County at 2.1 gpg. Hardest: Cedar County at 36.5 gpg. Closest to Frontier County: Antelope County (12.2), Franklin County (11.5), Gage County (12.8).