How hard is the water in Genesee County, MI?
14 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Genesee County, MI is 240 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 14 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 10 samples at 10 sites between 1990 and 2012, 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 11.4 and 16.6 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 14 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 4.0 to 23.8 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Genesee County was 69 mg/L and the hardest 407 mg/L, a 6-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 16.6 gpg and the bottom quarter below 11.4 gpg.
Wells 14 gpg, rivers and lakes 14 gpg
10 groundwater samples from 10 wells put the median at 239.5 mg/L. 11 surface samples from 10 sites put it at 240 mg/L. In Genesee County the rivers and lakes come out 0.0 gpg harder. Here the surface water reads harder than the wells, which often points to streams fed by limestone springs or irrigation return flow. 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 306 lb of salt a year (8 bags of 40 lb, about $55), 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 $155 a year.
Sizing at 14 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 840 | 24,000 | 102 lb |
| 2 | 1,680 | 24,000 | 204 lb |
| 4 | 3,360 | 24,000 | 409 lb |
| 6 | 5,040 | 40,000 | 613 lb |
Genesee County against the rest of Michigan
Among the 82 Michigan counties with data, Genesee County is number 24 of 82 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 66% of counties.
Softest in Michigan: Luce County at 1.9 gpg. Hardest: Wayne County at 47.4 gpg. Closest to Genesee County: Huron County (14.2), Bay County (13.4), Saginaw County (14.6).