How hard is the water in Leslie County, KY?
9.3 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Leslie County, KY is 160 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 9.3 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 52 samples at 1 sites between 1999 and 2007, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 9.3 and 9.3 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: low (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 9.3 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.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 9.3 to 9.3 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Leslie County was 159.5 mg/L and the hardest 159.5 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 9.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 9.3 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 203 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $37), 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 $137 a year.
Sizing at 9.3 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 558 | 24,000 | 68 lb |
| 2 | 1,116 | 24,000 | 136 lb |
| 4 | 2,232 | 24,000 | 272 lb |
| 6 | 3,348 | 24,000 | 407 lb |
Leslie County against the rest of Kentucky
Among the 104 Kentucky counties with data, Leslie County is number 46 of 104 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 48% of counties.
Softest in Kentucky: Letcher County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Jefferson County at 32.9 gpg. Closest to Leslie County: Pendleton County (9.3), Bracken County (9.4), Gallatin County (9.4).