How hard is the water in Harlan County, NE?
36.2 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Harlan County, NE is 619 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 36.2 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 12 samples at 12 sites between 1997 and 2002, 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 30.1 and 37.3 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 36.2 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 13.8 to 44.5 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Harlan County was 237 mg/L and the hardest 762 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 37.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 30.1 gpg.
Wells 36.2 gpg, rivers and lakes 8.2 gpg
12 groundwater samples from 12 wells put the median at 619 mg/L. 1 surface samples from 1 sites put it at 140 mg/L. In Harlan County the wells come out 28.0 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 48,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 790 lb of salt a year (20 bags of 40 lb, about $142), 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 $242 a year.
Sizing at 36.2 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2,172 | 24,000 | 264 lb |
| 2 | 4,344 | 32,000 | 529 lb |
| 4 | 8,688 | 64,000 | 1,057 lb |
| 6 | 13,032 | twin tank | 1,586 lb |
Harlan County against the rest of Nebraska
Among the 89 Nebraska counties with data, Harlan County is number 2 of 89 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 96% of counties.
Softest in Nebraska: Blaine County at 2.1 gpg. Hardest: Cedar County at 36.5 gpg. Closest to Harlan County: Cedar County (36.5), Dakota County (32.8), Washington County (23.7).