How hard is the water in Haakon County, SD?
51.7 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Haakon County, SD is 885 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 51.7 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 98 samples at 4 sites between 1999 and 2020, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 44.5 and 56.7 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 51.7 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 37.8 to 56.7 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Haakon County was 647 mg/L and the hardest 970 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 56.7 gpg and the bottom quarter below 44.5 gpg.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 80,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 1,129 lb of salt a year (29 bags of 40 lb, about $203), 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 $303 a year.
Sizing at 51.7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3,102 | 24,000 | 377 lb |
| 2 | 6,204 | 48,000 | 755 lb |
| 4 | 12,408 | twin tank | 1,510 lb |
| 6 | 18,612 | twin tank | 2,264 lb |
Haakon County against the rest of South Dakota
Among the 55 South Dakota counties with data, Haakon County is number 5 of 55 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 98% of counties.
Softest in South Dakota: Dewey County at 0.5 gpg. Hardest: Hanson County at 84.7 gpg. Closest to Haakon County: Charles Mix County (49.2), Butte County (48.5), Lincoln County (47.9).