How hard is the water in Lenawee County, MI?
30.3 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Lenawee County, MI is 519 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 30.3 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 14 samples at 8 sites between 1998 and 2016, 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 21.3 and 39.2 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 30.3 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 16.6 to 74.2 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Lenawee County was 284 mg/L and the hardest 1,270 mg/L, a 4-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 39.2 gpg and the bottom quarter below 21.3 gpg.
Wells 30.3 gpg, rivers and lakes 9.3 gpg
14 groundwater samples from 8 wells put the median at 519 mg/L. 9 surface samples from 9 sites put it at 160 mg/L. In Lenawee County the wells come out 21.0 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 40,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 662 lb of salt a year (17 bags of 40 lb, about $119), 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 $219 a year.
Sizing at 30.3 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,818 | 24,000 | 221 lb |
| 2 | 3,636 | 32,000 | 442 lb |
| 4 | 7,272 | 64,000 | 885 lb |
| 6 | 10,908 | 80,000 | 1,327 lb |
Lenawee County against the rest of Michigan
Among the 82 Michigan counties with data, Lenawee County is number 2 of 82 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 95% of counties.
Softest in Michigan: Luce County at 1.9 gpg. Hardest: Wayne County at 47.4 gpg. Closest to Lenawee County: Monroe County (27.5), Isabella County (24), Ingham County (22.9).