How hard is the water in Schuyler County, IL?
15 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Schuyler County, IL is 257 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 15 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 150 samples at 13 sites between 1990 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 12.4 and 17.9 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 15 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 7.7 to 24.1 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Schuyler County was 131 mg/L and the hardest 412 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 17.9 gpg and the bottom quarter below 12.4 gpg.
Wells 24.1 gpg, rivers and lakes 14.9 gpg
1 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 412 mg/L. 149 surface samples from 12 sites put it at 254.3 mg/L. In Schuyler County the wells come out 9.2 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 327 lb of salt a year (9 bags of 40 lb, about $59), 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 $159 a year.
Sizing at 15 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 900 | 24,000 | 110 lb |
| 2 | 1,800 | 24,000 | 219 lb |
| 4 | 3,600 | 32,000 | 438 lb |
| 6 | 5,400 | 40,000 | 657 lb |
Schuyler County against the rest of Illinois
Among the 102 Illinois counties with data, Schuyler County is number 69 of 102 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 69% of counties.
Softest in Illinois: Pope County at 4.3 gpg. Hardest: Cook County at 34.8 gpg. Closest to Schuyler County: Fayette County (15.1), Christian County (15.1), Morgan County (15.1).