How hard is the water in Scotts Bluff County, NE?
18.8 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Scotts Bluff County, NE is 322 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 18.8 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 360 samples at 102 sites between 1991 and 2002, 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 14.4 and 21.5 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 18.8 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 0.6 to 28.4 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Scotts Bluff County was 11.1 mg/L and the hardest 487 mg/L, a 44-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 21.5 gpg and the bottom quarter below 14.4 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 18.8 gpg, rivers and lakes 15.5 gpg
360 groundwater samples from 102 wells put the median at 321.5 mg/L. 98 surface samples from 14 sites put it at 265.3 mg/L. In Scotts Bluff County the wells come out 3.3 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 410 lb of salt a year (11 bags of 40 lb, about $74), 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 $174 a year.
Sizing at 18.8 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,128 | 24,000 | 137 lb |
| 2 | 2,256 | 24,000 | 274 lb |
| 4 | 4,512 | 32,000 | 549 lb |
| 6 | 6,768 | 48,000 | 823 lb |
Scotts Bluff County against the rest of Nebraska
Among the 89 Nebraska counties with data, Scotts Bluff County is number 18 of 89 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 81% of counties.
Softest in Nebraska: Blaine County at 2.1 gpg. Hardest: Cedar County at 36.5 gpg. Closest to Scotts Bluff County: Platte County (18.8), Keith County (18.9), Greeley County (19).