How hard is the water in Goliad County, TX?
17.7 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Goliad County, TX is 303 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 17.7 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 22 samples at 10 sites between 1990 and 2016, 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 16.2 and 21 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 17.7 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 14.5 to 31.0 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Goliad County was 249 mg/L and the hardest 531 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 21 gpg and the bottom quarter below 16.2 gpg.
Wells 17.7 gpg, rivers and lakes 17.6 gpg
22 groundwater samples from 10 wells put the median at 303 mg/L. 48 surface samples from 4 sites put it at 301.5 mg/L. In Goliad County the wells come out 0.1 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.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 387 lb of salt a year (10 bags of 40 lb, about $70), 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 $170 a year.
Sizing at 17.7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,062 | 24,000 | 129 lb |
| 2 | 2,124 | 24,000 | 258 lb |
| 4 | 4,248 | 32,000 | 517 lb |
| 6 | 6,372 | 48,000 | 775 lb |
Goliad County against the rest of Texas
Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Goliad County is number 69 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 78% of counties.
Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Goliad County: Tom Green County (17.7), Val Verde County (17.5), Victoria County (17.5).