How hard is the water in Ontario County, NY?
15.1 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Ontario County, NY is 259 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 15.1 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 15 samples at 15 sites between 2005 and 2022, 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 11.2 and 21.7 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 15.1 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 3.2 to 52.4 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Ontario County was 54.8 mg/L and the hardest 897 mg/L, a 16-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 21.7 gpg and the bottom quarter below 11.2 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 15.1 gpg, rivers and lakes 14.8 gpg
15 groundwater samples from 15 wells put the median at 259 mg/L. 28 surface samples from 3 sites put it at 253 mg/L. In Ontario County the wells come out 0.3 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 330 lb of salt a year (9 bags of 40 lb, about $59), 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 $159 a year.
Sizing at 15.1 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 906 | 24,000 | 110 lb |
| 2 | 1,812 | 24,000 | 220 lb |
| 4 | 3,624 | 32,000 | 441 lb |
| 6 | 5,436 | 40,000 | 661 lb |
Ontario County against the rest of New York
Among the 61 New York counties with data, Ontario County is number 15 of 61 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 70% of counties.
Softest in New York: Suffolk County at 1.6 gpg. Hardest: New York County at 161.1 gpg. Closest to Ontario County: Livingston County (15.7), Cortland County (14.3), Steuben County (14.1).