How hard is the water in Sherman County, NE?
14.2 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Sherman County, NE is 244 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 14.2 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 37 samples at 23 sites between 2000 and 2000, 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 12.5 and 15.2 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 14.2 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 1.5 to 28.2 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Sherman County was 26.5 mg/L and the hardest 483 mg/L, an 18-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 15.2 gpg and the bottom quarter below 12.5 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 14.2 gpg, rivers and lakes 5.1 gpg
37 groundwater samples from 23 wells put the median at 243.5 mg/L. 10 surface samples from 7 sites put it at 86.7 mg/L. In Sherman County the wells come out 9.1 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 311 lb of salt a year (8 bags of 40 lb, about $56), 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 $156 a year.
Sizing at 14.2 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 852 | 24,000 | 104 lb |
| 2 | 1,704 | 24,000 | 207 lb |
| 4 | 3,408 | 24,000 | 415 lb |
| 6 | 5,112 | 40,000 | 622 lb |
Sherman County against the rest of Nebraska
Among the 89 Nebraska counties with data, Sherman County is number 50 of 89 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 67% of counties.
Softest in Nebraska: Blaine County at 2.1 gpg. Hardest: Cedar County at 36.5 gpg. Closest to Sherman County: Knox County (14.3), Madison County (14.3), Sioux County (14.3).