How hard is the water in Monroe County, MI?
27.5 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Monroe County, MI is 471 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 27.5 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 41 samples at 41 sites between 1990 and 2014, 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 16.1 and 67.8 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 27.5 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 6.7 to 104.0 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Monroe County was 115 mg/L and the hardest 1,780 mg/L, a 15-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 67.8 gpg and the bottom quarter below 16.1 gpg.
Wells 27.5 gpg, rivers and lakes 18.3 gpg
41 groundwater samples from 41 wells put the median at 471 mg/L. 179 surface samples from 24 sites put it at 314 mg/L. In Monroe County the wells come out 9.2 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 40,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 601 lb of salt a year (16 bags of 40 lb, about $108), 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 $208 a year.
Sizing at 27.5 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,650 | 24,000 | 201 lb |
| 2 | 3,300 | 24,000 | 402 lb |
| 4 | 6,600 | 48,000 | 803 lb |
| 6 | 9,900 | 80,000 | 1,205 lb |
Monroe County against the rest of Michigan
Among the 82 Michigan counties with data, Monroe County is number 3 of 82 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 93% of counties.
Softest in Michigan: Luce County at 1.9 gpg. Hardest: Wayne County at 47.4 gpg. Closest to Monroe County: Lenawee County (30.3), Isabella County (24), Ingham County (22.9).