How hard is the water in Jim Wells County, TX?
9.3 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Jim Wells County, TX is 159 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 9.3 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 69 samples at 2 sites between 1999 and 2013, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 8.2 and 10.4 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 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.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 7.1 to 11.5 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Jim Wells County was 121 mg/L and the hardest 197.5 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 10.4 gpg and the bottom quarter below 8.2 gpg.
Wells 7.1 gpg, rivers and lakes 11.5 gpg
1 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 121 mg/L. 68 surface samples from 1 sites put it at 197.5 mg/L. In Jim Wells County the rivers and lakes come out 4.4 gpg harder. Here the surface water reads harder than the wells, which often points to streams fed by limestone springs or irrigation return flow. A utility here that draws from the aquifer can deliver noticeably different water from a private well next door.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 203 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 |
Jim Wells County against the rest of Texas
Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Jim Wells County is number 140 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 48% of counties.
Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Jim Wells County: Dimmit County (9.3), Matagorda County (9), McLennan County (8.8).