How hard is the water in Kewaunee County, WI?
18.5 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Kewaunee County, WI is 317 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 18.5 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 62 samples at 17 sites between 1990 and 2018, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 17.4 and 20.4 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 18.5 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 15.1 to 26.6 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Kewaunee County was 259 mg/L and the hardest 456 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 20.4 gpg and the bottom quarter below 17.4 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 404 lb of salt a year (11 bags of 40 lb, about $73), 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 $173 a year.
Sizing at 18.5 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,110 | 24,000 | 135 lb |
| 2 | 2,220 | 24,000 | 270 lb |
| 4 | 4,440 | 32,000 | 540 lb |
| 6 | 6,660 | 48,000 | 810 lb |
Kewaunee County against the rest of Wisconsin
Among the 72 Wisconsin counties with data, Kewaunee County is number 17 of 72 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 80% of counties.
Softest in Wisconsin: Vilas County at 1.4 gpg. Hardest: Calumet County at 28.4 gpg. Closest to Kewaunee County: Manitowoc County (19), Dodge County (17.1), Crawford County (16.9).