How hard is the water in Putnam County, WV?

4.5 grains per gallon

Optional: a softener helps, but plenty of homes skip it.

The median hardness measured in Putnam County, WV is 76 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 4.5 gpg. That is moderately hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 112 samples at 4 sites between 1990 and 2000, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.

How much it varies here

Half the sites came in between 3.5 and 5.5 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 4.5 gpg this is your call. Look for white film on glasses and crust on the shower head: if you see little of either, you can live without one. If you do want one, a 24,000-grain unit is enough, so ask for that size rather than a bigger one.

More on when a softener is not worth it.

From 3.5 to 5.8 gpg

The softest single sample on record in Putnam County was 59.5 mg/L and the hardest 98.9 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 5.5 gpg and the bottom quarter below 3.5 gpg.

What a softener would cost to run

For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 97 lb of salt a year (3 bags of 40 lb, about $18), 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 $118 a year.

Sizing at 4.5 gpg

Putnam County against the rest of West Virginia

Among the 54 West Virginia counties with data, Putnam County is number 43 of 54 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 28% of counties.

Softest in West Virginia: Calhoun County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Jefferson County at 20.4 gpg. Closest to Putnam County: Tucker County (4.6), Boone County (4.2), Fayette County (4).