How hard is the water in Lake County, CA?
9.8 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Lake County, CA is 168 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 9.8 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 12 samples at 9 sites between 2009 and 2019, 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 5.6 and 26.1 gpg. That spread crosses a decision line, so some homes here land on a different answer. A $10 test strip on your own tap settles it. Confidence in the county figure: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 9.8 gpg a softener is worth getting, mainly to protect the water heater and cut soap use. Get at least two quotes, ask each installer what grain capacity they are fitting, and check it against the sizing table below. Because Lake County straddles a decision line, check your own tap with a $10 test strip before you spend anything.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 0.6 to 41.5 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Lake County was 11 mg/L and the hardest 710 mg/L, a 65-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 26.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 5.6 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 9.8 gpg, rivers and lakes 6.4 gpg
12 groundwater samples from 9 wells put the median at 168 mg/L. 26 surface samples from 14 sites put it at 109.8 mg/L. In Lake County the wells come out 3.4 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 214 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $39), 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 $139 a year.
Sizing at 9.8 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 588 | 24,000 | 72 lb |
| 2 | 1,176 | 24,000 | 143 lb |
| 4 | 2,352 | 24,000 | 286 lb |
| 6 | 3,528 | 32,000 | 429 lb |
Lake County against the rest of California
Among the 58 California counties with data, Lake County is number 25 of 58 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 50% of counties.
Softest in California: Sierra County at 1.7 gpg. Hardest: Calaveras County at 98.3 gpg. Closest to Lake County: Imperial County (9.5), San Joaquin County (9.5), Humboldt County (9.3).