How hard is the water in Presidio County, TX?

2.4 grains per gallon

You do not need a softener here.

The median hardness measured in Presidio County, TX is 41 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 2.4 gpg. That is soft on the USGS scale. It comes from 6 samples at 6 sites between 1994 and 2014, 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 1.3 and 3.2 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

You can skip the softener. At 2.4 gpg the most a softener would fix is the odd water spot. If a salesperson in Presidio County 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.

From 0.8 to 4.6 gpg

The softest single sample on record in Presidio County was 14.5 mg/L and the hardest 79.6 mg/L, a 5-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 3.2 gpg and the bottom quarter below 1.3 gpg.

Wells 2.4 gpg, rivers and lakes 32.9 gpg

6 groundwater samples from 6 wells put the median at 40.6 mg/L. 65 surface samples from 3 sites put it at 564 mg/L. In Presidio County the rivers and lakes come out 30.5 gpg harder. Here the surface water reads harder than the wells, which often points to streams fed by limestone springs or irrigation return flow. A utility here that draws from the aquifer can deliver noticeably different water from a private well next door.

Presidio County against the rest of Texas

Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Presidio County is number 196 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 19% of counties.

Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Presidio County: Cherokee County (2.4), Nueces County (2.4), Upshur County (2.4).