How hard is the water in Sevier County, TN?
9.6 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Sevier County, TN is 165 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 9.6 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 7 samples at 7 sites between 1990 and 2019, 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 5.4 and 12.2 gpg. That spread crosses a decision line, so some homes here land on a different answer. A $10 test strip on your own tap settles 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. Because Sevier County straddles a decision line, check your own tap with a $10 test strip before you spend anything.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 0.1 to 14.4 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Sevier County was 2 mg/L and the hardest 247 mg/L, a 124-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 12.2 gpg and the bottom quarter below 5.4 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 9.6 gpg, rivers and lakes 3.2 gpg
7 groundwater samples from 7 wells put the median at 165 mg/L. 127 surface samples from 16 sites put it at 55 mg/L. In Sevier County the wells come out 6.4 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 211 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 |
Sevier County against the rest of Tennessee
Among the 95 Tennessee counties with data, Sevier County is number 22 of 95 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 50% of counties.
Softest in Tennessee: Fayette County at 0.5 gpg. Hardest: Fentress County at 42.9 gpg. Closest to Sevier County: Anderson County (9.5), McMinn County (9.3), Lauderdale County (9.9).