How hard is the water in Palo Alto County, IA?
32.4 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Palo Alto County, IA is 555 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 32.4 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 19 samples at 10 sites between 1990 and 2014, 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 25.7 and 49.9 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 32.4 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.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 18.2 to 53.2 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Palo Alto County was 311 mg/L and the hardest 911 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 49.9 gpg and the bottom quarter below 25.7 gpg.
Wells 32.4 gpg, rivers and lakes 24.1 gpg
19 groundwater samples from 10 wells put the median at 555 mg/L. 1 surface samples from 1 sites put it at 412 mg/L. In Palo Alto County the wells come out 8.3 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. 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 48,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 708 lb of salt a year (18 bags of 40 lb, about $127), 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 $227 a year.
Sizing at 32.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,944 | 24,000 | 237 lb |
| 2 | 3,888 | 32,000 | 473 lb |
| 4 | 7,776 | 64,000 | 946 lb |
| 6 | 11,664 | twin tank | 1,419 lb |
Palo Alto County against the rest of Iowa
Among the 93 Iowa counties with data, Palo Alto County is number 5 of 93 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 96% of counties.
Softest in Iowa: Taylor County at 8.2 gpg. Hardest: Pocahontas County at 45.3 gpg. Closest to Palo Alto County: Emmet County (31.8), Plymouth County (31.5), Cherokee County (33.3).