How hard is the water in Jones County, IA?
16 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Jones County, IA is 274 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 16 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 18 samples at 6 sites between 1990 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 15.8 and 17.5 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 16 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 8.9 to 18.1 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Jones County was 153 mg/L and the hardest 310 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 17.5 gpg and the bottom quarter below 15.8 gpg.
Wells 16 gpg, rivers and lakes 15.2 gpg
18 groundwater samples from 6 wells put the median at 274 mg/L. 1 surface samples from 1 sites put it at 260 mg/L. In Jones County the wells come out 0.8 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 350 lb of salt a year (9 bags of 40 lb, about $63), 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 $163 a year.
Sizing at 16 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 960 | 24,000 | 117 lb |
| 2 | 1,920 | 24,000 | 234 lb |
| 4 | 3,840 | 32,000 | 467 lb |
| 6 | 5,760 | 48,000 | 701 lb |
Jones County against the rest of Iowa
Among the 93 Iowa counties with data, Jones County is number 73 of 93 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 72% of counties.
Softest in Iowa: Taylor County at 8.2 gpg. Hardest: Pocahontas County at 45.3 gpg. Closest to Jones County: Adams County (15.8), Delaware County (15.8), Linn County (15.8).