How hard is the water in Orange County, IN?
11.1 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Orange County, IN is 190 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 11.1 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 69 samples at 13 sites between 1992 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 10.1 and 12.6 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 11.1 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. Because Orange 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 7.0 to 13.7 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Orange County was 120 mg/L and the hardest 235 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 12.6 gpg and the bottom quarter below 10.1 gpg.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 242 lb of salt a year (7 bags of 40 lb, about $44), 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 $144 a year.
Sizing at 11.1 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 666 | 24,000 | 81 lb |
| 2 | 1,332 | 24,000 | 162 lb |
| 4 | 2,664 | 24,000 | 324 lb |
| 6 | 3,996 | 32,000 | 486 lb |
Orange County against the rest of Indiana
Among the 91 Indiana counties with data, Orange County is number 75 of 91 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 55% of counties.
Softest in Indiana: Brown County at 3.8 gpg. Hardest: Warrick County at 40.3 gpg. Closest to Orange County: Vigo County (11.1), Ohio County (10.9), Jennings County (11.3).