How hard is the water in Richland Parish, LA?
7 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Richland Parish, LA is 120 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 7 gpg. That is moderately hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 18 samples at 17 sites between 1991 and 2023, 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 4.7 and 15.2 gpg. That spread crosses a decision line, so some homes here land on a different answer. A $10 test strip on your own tap settles it. Confidence in the county figure: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 7 gpg a softener is worth getting, mainly to protect the water heater and cut soap use. Get at least two quotes, ask each installer what grain capacity they are fitting, and check it against the sizing table below. Because Richland Parish straddles a decision line, check your own tap with a $10 test strip before you spend anything.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 1.1 to 27.9 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Richland Parish was 18.3 mg/L and the hardest 477 mg/L, a 26-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 15.2 gpg and the bottom quarter below 4.7 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 7 gpg, rivers and lakes 3.8 gpg
18 groundwater samples from 17 wells put the median at 120 mg/L. 198 surface samples from 6 sites put it at 64.5 mg/L. In Richland Parish the wells come out 3.2 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. A utility here that draws from the river can deliver noticeably different water from a private well next door.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 153 lb of salt a year (4 bags of 40 lb, about $28), 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 $128 a year.
Sizing at 7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 420 | 24,000 | 51 lb |
| 2 | 840 | 24,000 | 102 lb |
| 4 | 1,680 | 24,000 | 204 lb |
| 6 | 2,520 | 24,000 | 307 lb |
Richland Parish against the rest of Louisiana
Among the 64 Louisiana counties with data, Richland Parish is number 36 of 64 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 39% of counties.
Softest in Louisiana: Lincoln Parish at 0.1 gpg. Hardest: St. Bernard Parish at 53.9 gpg. Closest to Richland Parish: Assumption Parish (7.6), Morehouse Parish (7.7), Pointe Coupee Parish (7.7).