How hard is the water in Scott County, IN?
9.6 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Scott County, IN is 164 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 9.6 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 19 samples at 8 sites between 1997 and 2002, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 9.3 and 10.3 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 9.6 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.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 6.4 to 11.1 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Scott County was 109.5 mg/L and the hardest 190 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 10.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 9.3 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 209 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $38), 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 $138 a year.
Sizing at 9.6 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 576 | 24,000 | 70 lb |
| 2 | 1,152 | 24,000 | 140 lb |
| 4 | 2,304 | 24,000 | 280 lb |
| 6 | 3,456 | 32,000 | 420 lb |
Scott County against the rest of Indiana
Among the 91 Indiana counties with data, Scott County is number 84 of 91 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 49% of counties.
Softest in Indiana: Brown County at 3.8 gpg. Hardest: Warrick County at 40.3 gpg. Closest to Scott County: Jefferson County (9.5), Monroe County (9.7), Newton County (9.8).