How hard is the water in San Jacinto County, TX?
7.5 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in San Jacinto County, TX is 128 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 7.5 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 17 samples at 5 sites between 1990 and 2014, 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 5.7 and 9 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 7.5 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 San Jacinto County 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 4.6 to 13.8 gpg
The softest single sample on record in San Jacinto County was 79.5 mg/L and the hardest 235.5 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 9 gpg and the bottom quarter below 5.7 gpg.
Wells 7.5 gpg, rivers and lakes 6.7 gpg
17 groundwater samples from 5 wells put the median at 128 mg/L. 130 surface samples from 4 sites put it at 114.8 mg/L. In San Jacinto County the wells come out 0.8 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 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 163 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $29), 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 $129 a year.
Sizing at 7.5 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 450 | 24,000 | 55 lb |
| 2 | 900 | 24,000 | 110 lb |
| 4 | 1,800 | 24,000 | 219 lb |
| 6 | 2,700 | 24,000 | 329 lb |
San Jacinto County against the rest of Texas
Among the 217 Texas counties with data, San Jacinto County is number 158 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 41% of counties.
Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to San Jacinto County: Franklin County (7.7), Bowie County (7.2), Duval County (7.2).