How hard is the water in Herkimer County, NY?
10 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Herkimer County, NY is 171 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 10 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 40 samples at 30 sites between 1990 and 2023, 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 2.8 and 15.1 gpg. That spread crosses a decision line, so some homes here land on a different answer. A $10 test strip on your own tap settles it. Confidence in the county figure: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 10 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. Because Herkimer County straddles a decision line, check your own tap with a $10 test strip before you spend anything.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 0.9 to 23.5 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Herkimer County was 15.8 mg/L and the hardest 403 mg/L, a 26-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 15.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 2.8 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 10 gpg, rivers and lakes 0.4 gpg
40 groundwater samples from 30 wells put the median at 171.3 mg/L. 2,203 surface samples from 113 sites put it at 6.4 mg/L. In Herkimer County the wells come out 9.6 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 219 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $39), 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 $139 a year.
Sizing at 10 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 600 | 24,000 | 73 lb |
| 2 | 1,200 | 24,000 | 146 lb |
| 4 | 2,400 | 24,000 | 292 lb |
| 6 | 3,600 | 32,000 | 438 lb |
Herkimer County against the rest of New York
Among the 61 New York counties with data, Herkimer County is number 31 of 61 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 51% of counties.
Softest in New York: Suffolk County at 1.6 gpg. Hardest: New York County at 161.1 gpg. Closest to Herkimer County: Tompkins County (10.3), Chautauqua County (9.6), Chenango County (9.6).