How hard is the water in Kalamazoo County, MI?
11.7 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Kalamazoo County, MI is 200 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 11.7 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 100 samples at 24 sites between 2000 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 11 and 12.6 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 11.7 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 5.4 to 21.7 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Kalamazoo County was 92 mg/L and the hardest 372 mg/L, a 4-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 12.6 gpg and the bottom quarter below 11 gpg.
Wells 21.7 gpg, rivers and lakes 11.7 gpg
1 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 372 mg/L. 99 surface samples from 23 sites put it at 200 mg/L. In Kalamazoo County the wells come out 10.0 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 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 255 lb of salt a year (7 bags of 40 lb, about $46), 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 $146 a year.
Sizing at 11.7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 702 | 24,000 | 85 lb |
| 2 | 1,404 | 24,000 | 171 lb |
| 4 | 2,808 | 24,000 | 342 lb |
| 6 | 4,212 | 32,000 | 512 lb |
Kalamazoo County against the rest of Michigan
Among the 82 Michigan counties with data, Kalamazoo County is number 30 of 82 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 57% of counties.
Softest in Michigan: Luce County at 1.9 gpg. Hardest: Wayne County at 47.4 gpg. Closest to Kalamazoo County: Cass County (11.7), St. Joseph County (11.7), Calhoun County (11.6).