How hard is the water in Pierce County, WI?
16.6 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Pierce County, WI is 285 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 16.6 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 13 samples at 6 sites between 1990 and 2023, 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 12.7 and 18.7 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 16.6 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 10.2 to 21.1 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Pierce County was 174 mg/L and the hardest 362 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 18.7 gpg and the bottom quarter below 12.7 gpg.
Wells 16.6 gpg, rivers and lakes 14 gpg
13 groundwater samples from 6 wells put the median at 285 mg/L. 157 surface samples from 29 sites put it at 240 mg/L. In Pierce County the wells come out 2.6 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 364 lb of salt a year (10 bags of 40 lb, about $65), 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 $165 a year.
Sizing at 16.6 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 996 | 24,000 | 121 lb |
| 2 | 1,992 | 24,000 | 242 lb |
| 4 | 3,984 | 32,000 | 485 lb |
| 6 | 5,976 | 48,000 | 727 lb |
Pierce County against the rest of Wisconsin
Among the 72 Wisconsin counties with data, Pierce County is number 21 of 72 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 75% of counties.
Softest in Wisconsin: Vilas County at 1.4 gpg. Hardest: Calumet County at 28.4 gpg. Closest to Pierce County: Waupaca County (16.6), Door County (16.4), Portage County (16.4).