How hard is the water in Sheridan County, ND?
52.2 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Sheridan County, ND is 894 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 52.2 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 10 samples at 6 sites between 1990 and 2016, 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 26.7 and 59.9 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 52.2 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 14.2 to 134.9 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Sheridan County was 243 mg/L and the hardest 2,310 mg/L, a 10-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 59.9 gpg and the bottom quarter below 26.7 gpg.
Wells 52.2 gpg, rivers and lakes 21.2 gpg
10 groundwater samples from 6 wells put the median at 894 mg/L. 41 surface samples from 5 sites put it at 363 mg/L. In Sheridan County the wells come out 31.0 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 80,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 1,141 lb of salt a year (29 bags of 40 lb, about $205), 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 $305 a year.
Sizing at 52.2 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3,132 | 24,000 | 381 lb |
| 2 | 6,264 | 48,000 | 762 lb |
| 4 | 12,528 | twin tank | 1,524 lb |
| 6 | 18,792 | twin tank | 2,286 lb |
Sheridan County against the rest of North Dakota
Among the 53 North Dakota counties with data, Sheridan County is number 2 of 53 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 98% of counties.
Softest in North Dakota: Hettinger County at 1.1 gpg. Hardest: Walsh County at 54 gpg. Closest to Sheridan County: Ward County (50.8), Walsh County (54), Towner County (49.6).