How hard is the water in Hamlin County, SD?
23.9 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Hamlin County, SD is 410 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 23.9 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 68 samples at 2 sites between 1998 and 2014, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 22.9 and 25 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 23.9 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 21.9 to 26.0 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Hamlin County was 374.1 mg/L and the hardest 445 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 25 gpg and the bottom quarter below 22.9 gpg.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 32,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 523 lb of salt a year (14 bags of 40 lb, about $94), 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 $194 a year.
Sizing at 23.9 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,434 | 24,000 | 174 lb |
| 2 | 2,868 | 24,000 | 349 lb |
| 4 | 5,736 | 48,000 | 698 lb |
| 6 | 8,604 | 64,000 | 1,047 lb |
Hamlin County against the rest of South Dakota
Among the 55 South Dakota counties with data, Hamlin County is number 29 of 55 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 91% of counties.
Softest in South Dakota: Dewey County at 0.5 gpg. Hardest: Hanson County at 84.7 gpg. Closest to Hamlin County: Fall River County (24.8), Aurora County (25.1), Grant County (25.3).