How hard is the water in Shiawassee County, MI?
18.3 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Shiawassee County, MI is 313 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 18.3 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 6 samples at 6 sites between 1997 and 1997, 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 16.7 and 21.6 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 18.3 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 16.1 to 26.2 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Shiawassee County was 275 mg/L and the hardest 449 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 21.6 gpg and the bottom quarter below 16.7 gpg.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 399 lb of salt a year (10 bags of 40 lb, about $72), 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 $172 a year.
Sizing at 18.3 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,098 | 24,000 | 134 lb |
| 2 | 2,196 | 24,000 | 267 lb |
| 4 | 4,392 | 32,000 | 534 lb |
| 6 | 6,588 | 48,000 | 802 lb |
Shiawassee County against the rest of Michigan
Among the 82 Michigan counties with data, Shiawassee County is number 13 of 82 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 79% of counties.
Softest in Michigan: Luce County at 1.9 gpg. Hardest: Wayne County at 47.4 gpg. Closest to Shiawassee County: Macomb County (18.4), Dickinson County (18), Oakland County (18.7).