How hard is the water in Gasconade County, MO?
10.2 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Gasconade County, MO is 175 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 10.2 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 9 samples at 5 sites between 1993 and 2024, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 7.2 and 14 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
At 10.2 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 Gasconade 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 5.9 to 15.7 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Gasconade County was 101 mg/L and the hardest 268 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 14 gpg and the bottom quarter below 7.2 gpg.
Wells 14.8 gpg, rivers and lakes 7.2 gpg
2 groundwater samples from 2 wells put the median at 254 mg/L. 7 surface samples from 3 sites put it at 122.7 mg/L. In Gasconade County the wells come out 7.6 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 223 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $40), 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 $140 a year.
Sizing at 10.2 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 612 | 24,000 | 74 lb |
| 2 | 1,224 | 24,000 | 149 lb |
| 4 | 2,448 | 24,000 | 298 lb |
| 6 | 3,672 | 32,000 | 447 lb |
Gasconade County against the rest of Missouri
Among the 110 Missouri counties with data, Gasconade County is number 85 of 110 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 52% of counties.
Softest in Missouri: Livingston County at 4.1 gpg. Hardest: Reynolds County at 96.7 gpg. Closest to Gasconade County: Madison County (10.1), Montgomery County (10.1), Barton County (10.4).