How hard is the water in Hyde County, NC?
13.2 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Hyde County, NC is 226 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 13.2 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 61 samples at 10 sites between 1990 and 2014, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 7.5 and 22.1 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 13.2 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. Because Hyde 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 1.2 to 186.9 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Hyde County was 20.7 mg/L and the hardest 3,200 mg/L, a 155-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 22.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 7.5 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 14.4 gpg, rivers and lakes 13 gpg
4 groundwater samples from 3 wells put the median at 246 mg/L. 57 surface samples from 7 sites put it at 223 mg/L. In Hyde County the wells come out 1.4 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 288 lb of salt a year (8 bags of 40 lb, about $52), 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 $152 a year.
Sizing at 13.2 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 792 | 24,000 | 96 lb |
| 2 | 1,584 | 24,000 | 193 lb |
| 4 | 3,168 | 24,000 | 385 lb |
| 6 | 4,752 | 40,000 | 578 lb |
Hyde County against the rest of North Carolina
Among the 99 North Carolina counties with data, Hyde County is number 5 of 99 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 63% of counties.
Softest in North Carolina: Bertie County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Dare County at 63.7 gpg. Closest to Hyde County: Beaufort County (12.2), Craven County (12.2), New Hanover County (14.5).