How hard is the water in Glades County, FL?
8.6 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Glades County, FL is 148 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 8.6 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 143 samples at 52 sites between 1990 and 2017, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 6.5 and 9.9 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 8.6 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 Glades 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 2.0 to 35.0 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Glades County was 33.4 mg/L and the hardest 599 mg/L, an 18-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 9.9 gpg and the bottom quarter below 6.5 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 35 gpg, rivers and lakes 8.5 gpg
1 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 599 mg/L. 142 surface samples from 51 sites put it at 146 mg/L. In Glades County the wells come out 26.5 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 188 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $34), 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 $134 a year.
Sizing at 8.6 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 516 | 24,000 | 63 lb |
| 2 | 1,032 | 24,000 | 126 lb |
| 4 | 2,064 | 24,000 | 251 lb |
| 6 | 3,096 | 24,000 | 377 lb |
Glades County against the rest of Florida
Among the 67 Florida counties with data, Glades County is number 40 of 67 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 45% of counties.
Softest in Florida: Washington County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Sarasota County at 32.2 gpg. Closest to Glades County: Marion County (8.8), Seminole County (9), Wakulla County (9).