How hard is the water in Lake County, CO?
7.7 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Lake County, CO is 133 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 7.7 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 639 samples at 122 sites between 1990 and 2026, 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 4.1 and 20.4 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 7.7 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 0.4 to 255.9 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Lake County was 6 mg/L and the hardest 4,381.1 mg/L, a 730-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 20.4 gpg and the bottom quarter below 4.1 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 7.7 gpg, rivers and lakes 4.9 gpg
639 groundwater samples from 122 wells put the median at 132.6 mg/L. 3,798 surface samples from 263 sites put it at 84.5 mg/L. In Lake County the wells come out 2.8 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. The two sources are close, so the county figure should hold whichever one your tap is on.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 169 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $30), 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 $130 a year.
Sizing at 7.7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 462 | 24,000 | 56 lb |
| 2 | 924 | 24,000 | 112 lb |
| 4 | 1,848 | 24,000 | 225 lb |
| 6 | 2,772 | 24,000 | 337 lb |
Lake County against the rest of Colorado
Among the 63 Colorado counties with data, Lake County is number 44 of 63 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 42% of counties.
Softest in Colorado: Larimer County at 0.4 gpg. Hardest: Mesa County at 143.7 gpg. Closest to Lake County: Rio Grande County (7.7), Jefferson County (7.6), Mineral County (8.2).