How hard is the water in Lake and Peninsula Borough, AK?

1.3 grains per gallon

You do not need a softener here.

The median hardness measured in Lake and Peninsula Borough, AK is 22 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 1.3 gpg. That is soft on the USGS scale. It comes from 95 samples at 14 sites between 1999 and 2017, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.

How much it varies here

Half the sites came in between 0.9 and 1.6 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

You can skip the softener. At 1.3 gpg the most a softener would fix is the odd water spot. If a salesperson in Lake and Peninsula Borough says otherwise, ask to see their reading in grains per gallon and compare it with this one.

More on when a softener is not worth it.

From 0.7 to 2.1 gpg

The softest single sample on record in Lake and Peninsula Borough was 11.4 mg/L and the hardest 36.7 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 1.6 gpg and the bottom quarter below 0.9 gpg.

Lake and Peninsula Borough against the rest of Alaska

Among the 22 Alaska counties with data, Lake and Peninsula Borough is number 19 of 22 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 10% of counties.

Softest in Alaska: Petersburg Borough at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Southeast Fairbanks Census Area at 16.3 gpg. Closest to Lake and Peninsula Borough: Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area (1.6), Ketchikan Gateway Borough (0.9), Sitka City and Borough (0.9).