How hard is the water in Lincoln County, ID?
8.2 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Lincoln County, ID is 141 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 8.2 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 182 samples at 46 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 7.1 and 10.4 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 8.2 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 6.1 to 14.5 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Lincoln County was 104 mg/L and the hardest 248 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 10.4 gpg and the bottom quarter below 7.1 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 180 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $32), 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 $132 a year.
Sizing at 8.2 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 492 | 24,000 | 60 lb |
| 2 | 984 | 24,000 | 120 lb |
| 4 | 1,968 | 24,000 | 239 lb |
| 6 | 2,952 | 24,000 | 359 lb |
Lincoln County against the rest of Idaho
Among the 44 Idaho counties with data, Lincoln County is number 25 of 44 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 44% of counties.
Softest in Idaho: Valley County at 1.3 gpg. Hardest: Caribou County at 23 gpg. Closest to Lincoln County: Clark County (8.5), Custer County (8.5), Lewis County (7.9).