How hard is the water in Houston County, TN?
9.1 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Houston County, TN is 155 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 9.1 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 64 samples at 7 sites between 1990 and 2012, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 8.3 and 9.6 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 9.1 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 6.6 to 11.1 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Houston County was 112.5 mg/L and the hardest 190 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 9.6 gpg and the bottom quarter below 8.3 gpg.
Wells 11.1 gpg, rivers and lakes 8.7 gpg
1 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 190 mg/L. 63 surface samples from 6 sites put it at 149.5 mg/L. In Houston County the wells come out 2.4 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 198 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $36), 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 $136 a year.
Sizing at 9.1 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 546 | 24,000 | 66 lb |
| 2 | 1,092 | 24,000 | 133 lb |
| 4 | 2,184 | 24,000 | 266 lb |
| 6 | 3,276 | 24,000 | 399 lb |
Houston County against the rest of Tennessee
Among the 95 Tennessee counties with data, Houston County is number 27 of 95 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 47% of counties.
Softest in Tennessee: Fayette County at 0.5 gpg. Hardest: Fentress County at 42.9 gpg. Closest to Houston County: Meigs County (9.1), Loudon County (8.9), Warren County (8.9).