How hard is the water in Sarasota County, FL?
32.2 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Sarasota County, FL is 552 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 32.2 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 240 samples at 113 sites between 1990 and 2017, 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 17.7 and 59 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 32.2 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 0.5 to 285.1 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Sarasota County was 9.2 mg/L and the hardest 4,880 mg/L, a 530-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 59 gpg and the bottom quarter below 17.7 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 32.2 gpg, rivers and lakes 14.6 gpg
240 groundwater samples from 113 wells put the median at 552 mg/L. 250 surface samples from 55 sites put it at 250 mg/L. In Sarasota County the wells come out 17.6 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 48,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 704 lb of salt a year (18 bags of 40 lb, about $127), 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 $227 a year.
Sizing at 32.2 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,932 | 24,000 | 235 lb |
| 2 | 3,864 | 32,000 | 470 lb |
| 4 | 7,728 | 64,000 | 940 lb |
| 6 | 11,592 | twin tank | 1,410 lb |
Sarasota County against the rest of Florida
Among the 67 Florida counties with data, Sarasota County is the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 96% of counties.
Softest in Florida: Washington County at 0.3 gpg. Closest to Sarasota County: Lee County (29.4), Charlotte County (26.7), St. Lucie County (21).