How hard is the water in Howard County, TX?
28.4 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Howard County, TX is 487 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 28.4 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 2 samples at 2 sites between 2001 and 2017, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 26.3 and 30.6 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: low (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 28.4 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.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 40,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 621 lb of salt a year (16 bags of 40 lb, about $112), 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 $212 a year.
Sizing at 28.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,704 | 24,000 | 207 lb |
| 2 | 3,408 | 24,000 | 415 lb |
| 4 | 6,816 | 48,000 | 829 lb |
| 6 | 10,224 | 80,000 | 1,244 lb |
Howard County against the rest of Texas
Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Howard County is number 34 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 94% of counties.
Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Howard County: Garza County (27.9), Yoakum County (27.1), Martin County (29.7).