How hard is the water in Huerfano County, CO?
9.3 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Huerfano County, CO is 160 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 9.3 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 671 samples at 64 sites between 1990 and 2026, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 5.4 and 14.8 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 9.3 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 Huerfano 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 0.1 to 51.7 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Huerfano County was 2.1 mg/L and the hardest 885 mg/L, a 421-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 14.8 gpg and the bottom quarter below 5.4 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 204 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $37), 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 $137 a year.
Sizing at 9.3 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 558 | 24,000 | 68 lb |
| 2 | 1,116 | 24,000 | 136 lb |
| 4 | 2,232 | 24,000 | 272 lb |
| 6 | 3,348 | 24,000 | 407 lb |
Huerfano County against the rest of Colorado
Among the 63 Colorado counties with data, Huerfano County is number 37 of 63 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 48% of counties.
Softest in Colorado: Larimer County at 0.4 gpg. Hardest: Mesa County at 143.7 gpg. Closest to Huerfano County: Summit County (9.4), Park County (9.4), Gunnison County (9.1).