How hard is the water in Sanborn County, SD?
82.4 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Sanborn County, SD is 1410 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 82.4 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 2 samples at 1 sites between 2004 and 2004, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 82.4 and 82.4 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: low (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 82.4 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.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, the water is harder than a standard single tank handles in a week, so plan on a larger or twin-tank unit. Expect about 1,799 lb of salt a year (45 bags of 40 lb, about $324), 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 $424 a year.
Sizing at 82.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4,944 | 40,000 | 602 lb |
| 2 | 9,888 | 80,000 | 1,203 lb |
| 4 | 19,776 | twin tank | 2,406 lb |
| 6 | 29,664 | twin tank | 3,609 lb |
Sanborn County against the rest of South Dakota
Among the 55 South Dakota counties with data, Sanborn County is number 2 of 55 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 99% of counties.
Softest in South Dakota: Dewey County at 0.5 gpg. Hardest: Hanson County at 84.7 gpg. Closest to Sanborn County: Hanson County (84.7), Hutchinson County (68.9), Turner County (60.2).