How hard is the water in Marshall County, MS?

1.8 grains per gallon

You do not need a softener here.

The median hardness measured in Marshall County, MS is 30 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 1.8 gpg. That is soft on the USGS scale. It comes from 12 samples at 6 sites between 1996 and 2022, 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 1.1 and 2.3 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

You can skip the softener. At 1.8 gpg the most a softener would fix is the odd water spot. If a salesperson in Marshall County says otherwise, ask to see their reading in grains per gallon and compare it with this one.

More on when a softener is not worth it.

From 0.3 to 2.5 gpg

The softest single sample on record in Marshall County was 5.7 mg/L and the hardest 43.1 mg/L, an 8-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 2.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 1.1 gpg.

Wells 1.8 gpg, rivers and lakes 0.4 gpg

12 groundwater samples from 6 wells put the median at 30.1 mg/L. 6 surface samples from 1 sites put it at 7.4 mg/L. In Marshall County the wells come out 1.4 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. The two sources are close, so the county figure should hold whichever one your tap is on.

Marshall County against the rest of Mississippi

Among the 78 Mississippi counties with data, Marshall County is number 33 of 78 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 14% of counties.

Softest in Mississippi: Issaquena County at 0.1 gpg. Hardest: Franklin County at 60.5 gpg. Closest to Marshall County: Grenada County (1.8), Noxubee County (1.7), Choctaw County (1.7).