How hard is the water in Lincoln County, WA?
9.6 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Lincoln County, WA is 164 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 9.6 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 114 samples at 10 sites between 1992 and 2022, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 8.1 and 12.3 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 9.6 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 Lincoln 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 2.7 to 21.4 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Lincoln County was 46.5 mg/L and the hardest 367 mg/L, an 8-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 12.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 8.1 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 12.7 gpg, rivers and lakes 8.6 gpg
4 groundwater samples from 4 wells put the median at 218 mg/L. 110 surface samples from 6 sites put it at 147 mg/L. In Lincoln County the wells come out 4.1 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 209 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $38), 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 $138 a year.
Sizing at 9.6 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 576 | 24,000 | 70 lb |
| 2 | 1,152 | 24,000 | 140 lb |
| 4 | 2,304 | 24,000 | 280 lb |
| 6 | 3,456 | 32,000 | 420 lb |
Lincoln County against the rest of Washington
Among the 38 Washington counties with data, Lincoln County is number 5 of 38 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 49% of counties.
Softest in Washington: Chelan County at 0.6 gpg. Hardest: Island County at 20.7 gpg. Closest to Lincoln County: Yakima County (9.1), Skagit County (8.1), Ferry County (7.8).