How hard is the water in Hart County, KY?
7.5 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Hart County, KY is 128 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 7.5 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 102 samples at 4 sites between 1990 and 2007, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 7.4 and 8.1 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 7.5 gpg a softener is worth getting, mainly to protect the water heater and cut soap use. Get at least two quotes, ask each installer what grain capacity they are fitting, and check it against the sizing table below.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 7.3 to 9.9 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Hart County was 124.5 mg/L and the hardest 169 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 8.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 7.4 gpg.
Wells 9.9 gpg, rivers and lakes 7.4 gpg
4 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 169 mg/L. 98 surface samples from 3 sites put it at 127 mg/L. In Hart County the wells come out 2.5 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. The two sources are close, so the county figure should hold whichever one your tap is on.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 163 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $29), 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 $129 a year.
Sizing at 7.5 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 450 | 24,000 | 55 lb |
| 2 | 900 | 24,000 | 110 lb |
| 4 | 1,800 | 24,000 | 219 lb |
| 6 | 2,700 | 24,000 | 329 lb |
Hart County against the rest of Kentucky
Among the 104 Kentucky counties with data, Hart County is number 57 of 104 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 41% of counties.
Softest in Kentucky: Letcher County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Jefferson County at 32.9 gpg. Closest to Hart County: Ohio County (7.5), Caldwell County (7.3), Harrison County (7.7).