How hard is the water in Perry County, OH?
113.3 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Perry County, OH is 1940 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 113.3 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 14 samples at 8 sites between 1997 and 2022, 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 73.6 and 124.3 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 113.3 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 6.0 to 129.7 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Perry County was 103 mg/L and the hardest 2,220 mg/L, a 22-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 124.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 73.6 gpg.
Wells 113.3 gpg, rivers and lakes 20.6 gpg
14 groundwater samples from 8 wells put the median at 1940 mg/L. 441 surface samples from 101 sites put it at 352 mg/L. In Perry County the wells come out 92.7 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, the water is harder than a standard single tank handles in a week, so plan on a larger or twin-tank unit. Expect about 2,475 lb of salt a year (62 bags of 40 lb, about $446), 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 $546 a year.
Sizing at 113.3 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6,798 | 48,000 | 827 lb |
| 2 | 13,596 | twin tank | 1,654 lb |
| 4 | 27,192 | twin tank | 3,308 lb |
| 6 | 40,788 | twin tank | 4,963 lb |
Perry County against the rest of Ohio
Among the 88 Ohio counties with data, Perry County is the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 99% of counties.
Softest in Ohio: Scioto County at 5.7 gpg. Closest to Perry County: Tuscarawas County (93.3), Allen County (39.8), Wood County (30.4).