How hard is the water in Ozark County, MO?
12 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Ozark County, MO is 206 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 12 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 142 samples at 11 sites between 1990 and 2023, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 10.9 and 14.8 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 12 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 8.9 to 17.5 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Ozark County was 152.4 mg/L and the hardest 300 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 14.8 gpg and the bottom quarter below 10.9 gpg.
Wells 13.3 gpg, rivers and lakes 11.8 gpg
11 groundwater samples from 4 wells put the median at 227 mg/L. 131 surface samples from 7 sites put it at 201.5 mg/L. In Ozark County the wells come out 1.5 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 263 lb of salt a year (7 bags of 40 lb, about $47), 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 $147 a year.
Sizing at 12 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 720 | 24,000 | 88 lb |
| 2 | 1,440 | 24,000 | 175 lb |
| 4 | 2,880 | 24,000 | 350 lb |
| 6 | 4,320 | 32,000 | 526 lb |
Ozark County against the rest of Missouri
Among the 110 Missouri counties with data, Ozark County is number 51 of 110 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 59% of counties.
Softest in Missouri: Livingston County at 4.1 gpg. Hardest: Reynolds County at 96.7 gpg. Closest to Ozark County: Butler County (12), Clark County (12.1), Shannon County (11.9).