How hard is the water in Hill County, TX?
10.3 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Hill County, TX is 177 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 10.3 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 364 samples at 14 sites between 1990 and 2005, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 8.6 and 14 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 10.3 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 Hill 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 8.1 to 16.9 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Hill County was 138 mg/L and the hardest 289 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 14 gpg and the bottom quarter below 8.6 gpg.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 225 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $41), 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 $141 a year.
Sizing at 10.3 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 618 | 24,000 | 75 lb |
| 2 | 1,236 | 24,000 | 150 lb |
| 4 | 2,472 | 24,000 | 301 lb |
| 6 | 3,708 | 32,000 | 451 lb |
Hill County against the rest of Texas
Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Hill County is number 135 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 52% of counties.
Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Hill County: Brooks County (10.4), Oldham County (10.2), Bastrop County (10.5).