How hard is the water in Linn County, KS?
114.5 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Linn County, KS is 1960 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 114.5 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 9 samples at 8 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 97.6 and 122.8 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 114.5 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 83.0 to 176.4 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Linn County was 1420 mg/L and the hardest 3,020 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 122.8 gpg and the bottom quarter below 97.6 gpg.
Wells 114.5 gpg, rivers and lakes 7.6 gpg
9 groundwater samples from 8 wells put the median at 1960 mg/L. 431 surface samples from 18 sites put it at 130 mg/L. In Linn County the wells come out 106.9 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, the water is harder than a standard single tank handles in a week, so plan on a larger or twin-tank unit. Expect about 2,501 lb of salt a year (63 bags of 40 lb, about $450), 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 $550 a year.
Sizing at 114.5 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6,870 | 64,000 | 836 lb |
| 2 | 13,740 | twin tank | 1,672 lb |
| 4 | 27,480 | twin tank | 3,343 lb |
| 6 | 41,220 | twin tank | 5,015 lb |
Linn County against the rest of Kansas
Among the 105 Kansas counties with data, Linn County is the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 99% of counties.
Softest in Kansas: Woodson County at 6.3 gpg. Closest to Linn County: Hamilton County (87.6), Gove County (64.3), Kearny County (60.2).