How hard is the water in Real County, TX?
11 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Real County, TX is 189 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 11 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 8 samples at 7 sites between 1990 and 2010, 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 10.9 and 11.9 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 11 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 9.3 to 12.5 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Real County was 160 mg/L and the hardest 214 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 11.9 gpg and the bottom quarter below 10.9 gpg.
Wells 11 gpg, rivers and lakes 11.3 gpg
8 groundwater samples from 7 wells put the median at 189 mg/L. 5 surface samples from 3 sites put it at 193.5 mg/L. In Real County the rivers and lakes come out 0.3 gpg harder. Here the surface water reads harder than the wells, which often points to streams fed by limestone springs or irrigation return flow. 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 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 241 lb of salt a year (7 bags of 40 lb, about $43), 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 $143 a year.
Sizing at 11 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 660 | 24,000 | 80 lb |
| 2 | 1,320 | 24,000 | 161 lb |
| 4 | 2,640 | 24,000 | 321 lb |
| 6 | 3,960 | 32,000 | 482 lb |
Real County against the rest of Texas
Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Real County is number 125 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 55% of counties.
Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Real County: Dallam County (11), Donley County (11), Hartley County (11).