How hard is the water in Levy County, FL?
14 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Levy County, FL is 240 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 14 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 235 samples at 28 sites between 1990 and 2017, 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 12.2 and 16.8 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
At 14 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 7.2 to 45.8 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Levy County was 122.6 mg/L and the hardest 783.7 mg/L, a 6-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 16.8 gpg and the bottom quarter below 12.2 gpg.
Wells 14 gpg, rivers and lakes 9.6 gpg
235 groundwater samples from 28 wells put the median at 240.3 mg/L. 158 surface samples from 32 sites put it at 163.7 mg/L. In Levy County the wells come out 4.4 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 307 lb of salt a year (8 bags of 40 lb, about $55), 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 $155 a year.
Sizing at 14 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 840 | 24,000 | 102 lb |
| 2 | 1,680 | 24,000 | 204 lb |
| 4 | 3,360 | 24,000 | 409 lb |
| 6 | 5,040 | 40,000 | 613 lb |
Levy County against the rest of Florida
Among the 67 Florida counties with data, Levy County is number 22 of 67 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 66% of counties.
Softest in Florida: Washington County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Sarasota County at 32.2 gpg. Closest to Levy County: Manatee County (13.1), Miami-Dade County (14.9), Pinellas County (15).