How hard is the water in Perkins County, NE?
8.8 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Perkins County, NE is 151 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 8.8 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 64 samples at 61 sites between 1998 and 2002, 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 7.9 and 9.3 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 8.8 gpg a softener is worth getting, mainly to protect the water heater and cut soap use. Get at least two quotes, ask each installer what grain capacity they are fitting, and check it against the sizing table below.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 7.0 to 28.0 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Perkins County was 119 mg/L and the hardest 479 mg/L, a 4-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 9.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 7.9 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 193 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $35), 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 $135 a year.
Sizing at 8.8 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 528 | 24,000 | 64 lb |
| 2 | 1,056 | 24,000 | 128 lb |
| 4 | 2,112 | 24,000 | 257 lb |
| 6 | 3,168 | 24,000 | 385 lb |
Perkins County against the rest of Nebraska
Among the 89 Nebraska counties with data, Perkins County is number 72 of 89 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 46% of counties.
Softest in Nebraska: Blaine County at 2.1 gpg. Hardest: Cedar County at 36.5 gpg. Closest to Perkins County: Banner County (9.1), Dundy County (9.1), Thayer County (9.2).