How hard is the water in Gogebic County, MI?

2 grains per gallon

You do not need a softener here.

The median hardness measured in Gogebic County, MI is 35 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 2 gpg. That is soft on the USGS scale. It comes from 53 samples at 36 sites between 1996 and 2014, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.

How much it varies here

Half the sites came in between 1.4 and 3 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

You can skip the softener. At 2 gpg the most a softener would fix is the odd water spot. If a salesperson in Gogebic County says otherwise, ask to see their reading in grains per gallon and compare it with this one.

More on when a softener is not worth it.

From 0.3 to 7.5 gpg

The softest single sample on record in Gogebic County was 5 mg/L and the hardest 128 mg/L, a 26-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 1.4 gpg.

Wells 4.2 gpg, rivers and lakes 1.7 gpg

4 groundwater samples from 4 wells put the median at 71.6 mg/L. 49 surface samples from 32 sites put it at 29.2 mg/L. In Gogebic County the wells come out 2.5 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. The two sources are close, so the county figure should hold whichever one your tap is on.

Gogebic County against the rest of Michigan

Among the 82 Michigan counties with data, Gogebic County is number 81 of 82 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 16% of counties.

Softest in Michigan: Luce County at 1.9 gpg. Hardest: Wayne County at 47.4 gpg. Closest to Gogebic County: Luce County (1.9), Keweenaw County (2.6), Missaukee County (3).