How hard is the water in Ramsey County, ND?
28.4 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Ramsey County, ND is 486 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 28.4 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 2,124 samples at 53 sites between 1990 and 2024, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 25.1 and 41.4 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 28.4 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 3.9 to 98.7 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Ramsey County was 66.6 mg/L and the hardest 1,690 mg/L, a 25-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 41.4 gpg and the bottom quarter below 25.1 gpg.
Wells 29.1 gpg, rivers and lakes 28.1 gpg
13 groundwater samples from 3 wells put the median at 499 mg/L. 2,111 surface samples from 50 sites put it at 481.5 mg/L. In Ramsey County the wells come out 1.0 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 40,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 620 lb of salt a year (16 bags of 40 lb, about $112), 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 $212 a year.
Sizing at 28.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,704 | 24,000 | 207 lb |
| 2 | 3,408 | 24,000 | 415 lb |
| 4 | 6,816 | 48,000 | 829 lb |
| 6 | 10,224 | 80,000 | 1,244 lb |
Ramsey County against the rest of North Dakota
Among the 53 North Dakota counties with data, Ramsey County is number 10 of 53 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 94% of counties.
Softest in North Dakota: Hettinger County at 1.1 gpg. Hardest: Walsh County at 54 gpg. Closest to Ramsey County: Rolette County (24.9), Kidder County (24.6), Oliver County (24.6).