How hard is the water in Massac County, IL?
12.3 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Massac County, IL is 210 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 12.3 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 10 samples at 4 sites between 1990 and 2019, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 11.4 and 12.9 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 12.3 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 8.9 to 14.9 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Massac County was 152.5 mg/L and the hardest 255 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 12.9 gpg and the bottom quarter below 11.4 gpg.
Wells 12.3 gpg, rivers and lakes 8.9 gpg
8 groundwater samples from 3 wells put the median at 210 mg/L. 2 surface samples from 1 sites put it at 152.5 mg/L. In Massac County the wells come out 3.4 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. 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 268 lb of salt a year (7 bags of 40 lb, about $48), 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 $148 a year.
Sizing at 12.3 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 738 | 24,000 | 90 lb |
| 2 | 1,476 | 24,000 | 180 lb |
| 4 | 2,952 | 24,000 | 359 lb |
| 6 | 4,428 | 32,000 | 539 lb |
Massac County against the rest of Illinois
Among the 102 Illinois counties with data, Massac County is number 82 of 102 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 59% of counties.
Softest in Illinois: Pope County at 4.3 gpg. Hardest: Cook County at 34.8 gpg. Closest to Massac County: Union County (12.3), Alexander County (12), Kankakee County (11.9).