How hard is the water in Northwest Arctic Borough, AK?

5.9 grains per gallon

Optional: a softener helps, but plenty of homes skip it.

The median hardness measured in Northwest Arctic Borough, AK is 102 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 5.9 gpg. That is moderately hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 4 samples at 4 sites between 2002 and 2002, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.

How much it varies here

Half the sites came in between 5.4 and 7.9 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: low (how it is measured).

What to do next

At 5.9 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 Northwest Arctic Borough 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.

What a softener would cost to run

For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 130 lb of salt a year (4 bags of 40 lb, about $23), 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 $123 a year.

Sizing at 5.9 gpg

Northwest Arctic Borough against the rest of Alaska

Among the 22 Alaska counties with data, Northwest Arctic Borough is number 9 of 22 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 35% of counties.

Softest in Alaska: Petersburg Borough at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Southeast Fairbanks Census Area at 16.3 gpg. Closest to Northwest Arctic Borough: Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (6.3), Haines Borough (5.2), Nome Census Area (5.1).