How hard is the water in Hardin County, IL?
13.1 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Hardin County, IL is 224 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 13.1 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 3 samples at 2 sites between 2000 and 2019, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 10.9 and 15.2 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 13.1 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.
Wells 17.3 gpg, rivers and lakes 8.8 gpg
1 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 297 mg/L. 2 surface samples from 1 sites put it at 150 mg/L. In Hardin County the wells come out 8.5 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. 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 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 285 lb of salt a year (8 bags of 40 lb, about $51), 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 $151 a year.
Sizing at 13.1 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 786 | 24,000 | 96 lb |
| 2 | 1,572 | 24,000 | 191 lb |
| 4 | 3,144 | 24,000 | 383 lb |
| 6 | 4,716 | 40,000 | 574 lb |
Hardin County against the rest of Illinois
Among the 102 Illinois counties with data, Hardin County is number 79 of 102 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 62% of counties.
Softest in Illinois: Pope County at 4.3 gpg. Hardest: Cook County at 34.8 gpg. Closest to Hardin County: Randolph County (13.2), Douglas County (12.6), Macoupin County (13.6).