How hard is the water in Hall County, NE?
17.4 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Hall County, NE is 298 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 17.4 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 83 samples at 46 sites between 1990 and 2015, 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 15 and 19.6 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 17.4 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 8.9 to 56.3 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Hall County was 152.5 mg/L and the hardest 963 mg/L, a 6-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 19.6 gpg and the bottom quarter below 15 gpg.
Wells 17.4 gpg, rivers and lakes 16.9 gpg
83 groundwater samples from 46 wells put the median at 297.5 mg/L. 27 surface samples from 2 sites put it at 289 mg/L. In Hall County the wells come out 0.5 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.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 380 lb of salt a year (10 bags of 40 lb, about $68), 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 $168 a year.
Sizing at 17.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,044 | 24,000 | 127 lb |
| 2 | 2,088 | 24,000 | 254 lb |
| 4 | 4,176 | 32,000 | 508 lb |
| 6 | 6,264 | 48,000 | 762 lb |
Hall County against the rest of Nebraska
Among the 89 Nebraska counties with data, Hall County is number 25 of 89 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 77% of counties.
Softest in Nebraska: Blaine County at 2.1 gpg. Hardest: Cedar County at 36.5 gpg. Closest to Hall County: Kearney County (17.4), Nuckolls County (17.5), Howard County (17.1).