How hard is the water in Nicholas County, WV?
4.9 grains per gallon
Optional: a softener helps, but plenty of homes skip it.
The median hardness measured in Nicholas County, WV is 84 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 4.9 gpg. That is moderately hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 12 samples at 12 sites between 1990 and 2011, 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 3.3 and 7.4 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 4.9 gpg this is your call. Look for white film on glasses and crust on the shower head: if you see little of either, you can live without one. If you do want one, a 24,000-grain unit is enough, so ask for that size rather than a bigger one. Because Nicholas County straddles a decision line, check your own tap with a $10 test strip before you spend anything.
More on when a softener is not worth it.
From 0.8 to 20.4 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Nicholas County was 13.3 mg/L and the hardest 349 mg/L, a 26-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 7.4 gpg and the bottom quarter below 3.3 gpg.
Wells 4.9 gpg, rivers and lakes 1.7 gpg
12 groundwater samples from 12 wells put the median at 83.7 mg/L. 107 surface samples from 16 sites put it at 28.4 mg/L. In Nicholas County the wells come out 3.2 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 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 107 lb of salt a year (3 bags of 40 lb, about $19), 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 $119 a year.
Sizing at 4.9 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 294 | 24,000 | 36 lb |
| 2 | 588 | 24,000 | 72 lb |
| 4 | 1,176 | 24,000 | 143 lb |
| 6 | 1,764 | 24,000 | 215 lb |
Nicholas County against the rest of West Virginia
Among the 54 West Virginia counties with data, Nicholas County is number 41 of 54 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 30% of counties.
Softest in West Virginia: Calhoun County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Jefferson County at 20.4 gpg. Closest to Nicholas County: Gilmer County (5.1), Tucker County (4.6), Putnam County (4.5).