How hard is the water in Jasper County, IL?
7.4 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Jasper County, IL is 127 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 7.4 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 137 samples at 7 sites between 1990 and 2002, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 7.3 and 15.8 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 7.4 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 Jasper 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 7.1 to 16.4 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Jasper County was 122 mg/L and the hardest 280 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 15.8 gpg and the bottom quarter below 7.3 gpg.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 161 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $29), 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 $129 a year.
Sizing at 7.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 444 | 24,000 | 54 lb |
| 2 | 888 | 24,000 | 108 lb |
| 4 | 1,776 | 24,000 | 216 lb |
| 6 | 2,664 | 24,000 | 324 lb |
Jasper County against the rest of Illinois
Among the 102 Illinois counties with data, Jasper County is number 100 of 102 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 40% of counties.
Softest in Illinois: Pope County at 4.3 gpg. Hardest: Cook County at 34.8 gpg. Closest to Jasper County: Pulaski County (7.8), Bond County (8.6), Johnson County (6.2).