How hard is the water in Hamilton County, IN?
21.6 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Hamilton County, IN is 369 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 21.6 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 21 samples at 6 sites between 1992 and 2014, 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 20.4 and 26.1 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 21.6 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 19.5 to 27.8 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Hamilton County was 334 mg/L and the hardest 476 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 26.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 20.4 gpg.
Wells 21.6 gpg, rivers and lakes 17.8 gpg
21 groundwater samples from 6 wells put the median at 369 mg/L. 110 surface samples from 17 sites put it at 305 mg/L. In Hamilton County the wells come out 3.8 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. A utility here that draws from the river can deliver noticeably different water from a private well next door.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 32,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 471 lb of salt a year (12 bags of 40 lb, about $85), 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 $185 a year.
Sizing at 21.6 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,296 | 24,000 | 158 lb |
| 2 | 2,592 | 24,000 | 315 lb |
| 4 | 5,184 | 40,000 | 631 lb |
| 6 | 7,776 | 64,000 | 946 lb |
Hamilton County against the rest of Indiana
Among the 91 Indiana counties with data, Hamilton County is number 9 of 91 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 87% of counties.
Softest in Indiana: Brown County at 3.8 gpg. Hardest: Warrick County at 40.3 gpg. Closest to Hamilton County: Wayne County (22.3), Shelby County (20.7), Bartholomew County (20.6).