How hard is the water in Livingston County, MI?
21.3 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Livingston County, MI is 364 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 21.3 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 78 samples at 40 sites between 1996 and 2016, 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 17.5 and 24.7 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 21.3 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 9.6 to 40.0 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Livingston County was 165 mg/L and the hardest 684 mg/L, a 4-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 24.7 gpg and the bottom quarter below 17.5 gpg.
Wells 21.3 gpg, rivers and lakes 13.4 gpg
78 groundwater samples from 40 wells put the median at 364 mg/L. 33 surface samples from 11 sites put it at 229.5 mg/L. In Livingston County the wells come out 7.9 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, a 32,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 464 lb of salt a year (12 bags of 40 lb, about $84), 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 $184 a year.
Sizing at 21.3 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,278 | 24,000 | 155 lb |
| 2 | 2,556 | 24,000 | 311 lb |
| 4 | 5,112 | 40,000 | 622 lb |
| 6 | 7,668 | 64,000 | 933 lb |
Livingston County against the rest of Michigan
Among the 82 Michigan counties with data, Livingston County is number 7 of 82 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 87% of counties.
Softest in Michigan: Luce County at 1.9 gpg. Hardest: Wayne County at 47.4 gpg. Closest to Livingston County: Branch County (20.8), Hillsdale County (20.5), Eaton County (22.7).