How hard is the water in Jackson County, KS?
21.6 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Jackson County, KS is 370 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 21.6 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 71 samples at 21 sites between 1994 and 2017, drawn from groundwater wells, which is what most taps and private wells in the county draw on.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 18.1 and 23.2 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 21.6 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.
From 9.6 to 64.0 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Jackson County was 165 mg/L and the hardest 1,095 mg/L, a 7-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 23.2 gpg and the bottom quarter below 18.1 gpg.
Wells 21.6 gpg, rivers and lakes 17.2 gpg
71 groundwater samples from 21 wells put the median at 370 mg/L. 225 surface samples from 19 sites put it at 295 mg/L. In Jackson County the wells come out 4.4 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. A utility here that draws from the river can deliver noticeably different water from a private well next door.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 32,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 472 lb of salt a year (12 bags of 40 lb, about $85), 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 $185 a year.
Sizing at 21.6 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,296 | 24,000 | 158 lb |
| 2 | 2,592 | 24,000 | 315 lb |
| 4 | 5,184 | 40,000 | 631 lb |
| 6 | 7,776 | 64,000 | 946 lb |
Jackson County against the rest of Kansas
Among the 105 Kansas counties with data, Jackson County is number 31 of 105 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 87% of counties.
Softest in Kansas: Woodson County at 6.3 gpg. Hardest: Linn County at 114.5 gpg. Closest to Jackson County: Lane County (21.6), Rice County (22), Finney County (22.1).