How hard is the water in Robertson County, KY?
12.9 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Robertson County, KY is 220 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 12.9 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 12 samples at 1 sites between 2004 and 2005, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 12.9 and 12.9 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: low (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 12.9 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 12.9 to 12.9 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Robertson County was 220 mg/L and the hardest 220 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 12.9 gpg and the bottom quarter below 12.9 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 281 lb of salt a year (8 bags of 40 lb, about $51), 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 $151 a year.
Sizing at 12.9 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 774 | 24,000 | 94 lb |
| 2 | 1,548 | 24,000 | 188 lb |
| 4 | 3,096 | 24,000 | 377 lb |
| 6 | 4,644 | 40,000 | 565 lb |
Robertson County against the rest of Kentucky
Among the 104 Kentucky counties with data, Robertson County is number 12 of 104 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 61% of counties.
Softest in Kentucky: Letcher County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Jefferson County at 32.9 gpg. Closest to Robertson County: Union County (12.9), Floyd County (12.5), Hancock County (12.5).