How hard is the water in Fulton County, AR?
19.7 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Fulton County, AR is 337 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 19.7 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 55 samples at 20 sites between 1990 and 2026, 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 14 and 21.6 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 19.7 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 11.0 to 25.6 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Fulton County was 189 mg/L and the hardest 439 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 21.6 gpg and the bottom quarter below 14 gpg.
Wells 19.7 gpg, rivers and lakes 12.8 gpg
55 groundwater samples from 20 wells put the median at 337 mg/L. 865 surface samples from 17 sites put it at 219 mg/L. In Fulton County the wells come out 6.9 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 32,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 430 lb of salt a year (11 bags of 40 lb, about $77), 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 $177 a year.
Sizing at 19.7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,182 | 24,000 | 144 lb |
| 2 | 2,364 | 24,000 | 288 lb |
| 4 | 4,728 | 40,000 | 575 lb |
| 6 | 7,092 | 64,000 | 863 lb |
Fulton County against the rest of Arkansas
Among the 75 Arkansas counties with data, Fulton County is number 5 of 75 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 83% of counties.
Softest in Arkansas: Hempstead County at 0.1 gpg. Hardest: Prairie County at 23.9 gpg. Closest to Fulton County: Poinsett County (18.4), St. Francis County (18.3), Arkansas County (21.3).