How hard is the water in Owen County, IN?
13.4 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Owen County, IN is 230 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 13.4 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 163 samples at 23 sites between 1991 and 2004, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 10.3 and 15.7 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 13.4 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 Owen 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 5.3 to 21.4 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Owen County was 90.5 mg/L and the hardest 367 mg/L, a 4-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 15.7 gpg and the bottom quarter below 10.3 gpg.
Wells 21.4 gpg, rivers and lakes 13.3 gpg
1 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 367 mg/L. 162 surface samples from 22 sites put it at 228 mg/L. In Owen County the wells come out 8.1 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 293 lb of salt a year (8 bags of 40 lb, about $53), 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 $153 a year.
Sizing at 13.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 804 | 24,000 | 98 lb |
| 2 | 1,608 | 24,000 | 196 lb |
| 4 | 3,216 | 24,000 | 391 lb |
| 6 | 4,824 | 40,000 | 587 lb |
Owen County against the rest of Indiana
Among the 91 Indiana counties with data, Owen County is number 67 of 91 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 64% of counties.
Softest in Indiana: Brown County at 3.8 gpg. Hardest: Warrick County at 40.3 gpg. Closest to Owen County: Noble County (13.4), Starke County (13.4), Jasper County (13.2).