How hard is the water in Hamilton County, IL?
18.4 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Hamilton County, IL is 315 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 18.4 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 4 samples at 1 sites between 1999 and 2001, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 18.4 and 18.4 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: low (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 18.4 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.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 401 lb of salt a year (11 bags of 40 lb, about $72), 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 $172 a year.
Sizing at 18.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,104 | 24,000 | 134 lb |
| 2 | 2,208 | 24,000 | 269 lb |
| 4 | 4,416 | 32,000 | 537 lb |
| 6 | 6,624 | 48,000 | 806 lb |
Hamilton County against the rest of Illinois
Among the 102 Illinois counties with data, Hamilton County is number 45 of 102 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 80% of counties.
Softest in Illinois: Pope County at 4.3 gpg. Hardest: Cook County at 34.8 gpg. Closest to Hamilton County: Champaign County (18.4), Henderson County (18.4), De Witt County (18.5).