How hard is the water in Morrison County, MN?
10.5 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Morrison County, MN is 180 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 10.5 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 5 samples at 5 sites between 1990 and 2024, 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 10.2 and 23.4 gpg. That spread crosses a decision line, so some homes here land on a different answer. A $10 test strip on your own tap settles it. Confidence in the county figure: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 10.5 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. Because Morrison County straddles a decision line, check your own tap with a $10 test strip before you spend anything.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 7.9 to 36.1 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Morrison County was 135 mg/L and the hardest 618 mg/L, a 5-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 23.4 gpg and the bottom quarter below 10.2 gpg.
Wells 10.5 gpg, rivers and lakes 9.8 gpg
5 groundwater samples from 5 wells put the median at 180 mg/L. 345 surface samples from 23 sites put it at 167 mg/L. In Morrison County the wells come out 0.7 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.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 230 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $41), 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 $141 a year.
Sizing at 10.5 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 630 | 24,000 | 77 lb |
| 2 | 1,260 | 24,000 | 153 lb |
| 4 | 2,520 | 24,000 | 307 lb |
| 6 | 3,780 | 32,000 | 460 lb |
Morrison County against the rest of Minnesota
Among the 87 Minnesota counties with data, Morrison County is number 75 of 87 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 53% of counties.
Softest in Minnesota: Lake County at 1.3 gpg. Hardest: Traverse County at 42.6 gpg. Closest to Morrison County: Wright County (10.8), Hubbard County (11), Waseca County (9.9).