How hard is the water in Portsmouth city, VA?

0.9 grains per gallon

You do not need a softener here.

The median hardness measured in Portsmouth city, VA is 16 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 0.9 gpg. That is soft on the USGS scale. It comes from 1 samples at 1 sites between 2005 and 2005, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.

How much it varies here

Half the sites came in between 0.9 and 0.9 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: low (how it is measured).

What to do next

You can skip the softener. At 0.9 gpg the most a softener would fix is the odd water spot. If a salesperson in Portsmouth city says otherwise, ask to see their reading in grains per gallon and compare it with this one.

More on when a softener is not worth it.

Portsmouth city against the rest of Virginia

Among the 126 Virginia counties with data, Portsmouth city is number 112 of 126 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 6% of counties.

Softest in Virginia: Isle of Wight County at 0.4 gpg. Hardest: Clarke County at 20.1 gpg. Closest to Portsmouth city: Greene County (0.9), Nelson County (0.9), Fredericksburg city (0.9).