How hard is the water in Kandiyohi County, MN?
13.4 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Kandiyohi County, MN is 230 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 13.4 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 97 samples at 29 sites between 1995 and 2023, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 12.3 and 14.8 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 13.4 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 8.8 to 33.6 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Kandiyohi County was 150 mg/L and the hardest 575 mg/L, a 4-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 14.8 gpg and the bottom quarter below 12.3 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 293 lb of salt a year (8 bags of 40 lb, about $53), 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 $153 a year.
Sizing at 13.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 804 | 24,000 | 98 lb |
| 2 | 1,608 | 24,000 | 196 lb |
| 4 | 3,216 | 24,000 | 391 lb |
| 6 | 4,824 | 40,000 | 587 lb |
Kandiyohi County against the rest of Minnesota
Among the 87 Minnesota counties with data, Kandiyohi County is number 64 of 87 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 64% of counties.
Softest in Minnesota: Lake County at 1.3 gpg. Hardest: Traverse County at 42.6 gpg. Closest to Kandiyohi County: Wadena County (13.5), Mille Lacs County (13.6), Renville County (13.6).