How hard is the water in Shelby County, IN?
20.7 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Shelby County, IN is 354 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 20.7 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 27 samples at 6 sites between 1992 and 2014, 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 17.8 and 21.3 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 20.7 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 16.9 to 22.6 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Shelby County was 290 mg/L and the hardest 387 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 21.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 17.8 gpg.
Wells 20.7 gpg, rivers and lakes 18.3 gpg
27 groundwater samples from 6 wells put the median at 354 mg/L. 105 surface samples from 14 sites put it at 312.5 mg/L. In Shelby County the wells come out 2.4 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. The two sources are close, so the county figure should hold whichever one your tap is on.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 32,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 452 lb of salt a year (12 bags of 40 lb, about $81), 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 $181 a year.
Sizing at 20.7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,242 | 24,000 | 151 lb |
| 2 | 2,484 | 24,000 | 302 lb |
| 4 | 4,968 | 40,000 | 604 lb |
| 6 | 7,452 | 64,000 | 907 lb |
Shelby County against the rest of Indiana
Among the 91 Indiana counties with data, Shelby County is number 10 of 91 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 85% of counties.
Softest in Indiana: Brown County at 3.8 gpg. Hardest: Warrick County at 40.3 gpg. Closest to Shelby County: Bartholomew County (20.6), Clinton County (20.4), Henry County (20.4).