How hard is the water in Potter County, TX?
22.7 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Potter County, TX is 388 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 22.7 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 227 samples at 2 sites between 1990 and 2023, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 19.7 and 25.7 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: low (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 22.7 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 16.6 to 28.7 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Potter County was 285 mg/L and the hardest 491.5 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 25.7 gpg and the bottom quarter below 19.7 gpg.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 32,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 495 lb of salt a year (13 bags of 40 lb, about $89), 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 $189 a year.
Sizing at 22.7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,362 | 24,000 | 166 lb |
| 2 | 2,724 | 24,000 | 331 lb |
| 4 | 5,448 | 40,000 | 663 lb |
| 6 | 8,172 | 64,000 | 994 lb |
Potter County against the rest of Texas
Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Potter County is number 47 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 89% of counties.
Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Potter County: Menard County (22.4), Irion County (22.1), Lamb County (22.1).