How hard is the water in Somervell County, TX?
20.3 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Somervell County, TX is 348 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 20.3 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 24 samples at 1 sites between 1999 and 2004, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 20.3 and 20.3 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: low (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 20.3 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 20.3 to 20.3 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Somervell County was 347.5 mg/L and the hardest 347.5 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 20.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 20.3 gpg.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 32,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 443 lb of salt a year (12 bags of 40 lb, about $80), 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 $180 a year.
Sizing at 20.3 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,218 | 24,000 | 148 lb |
| 2 | 2,436 | 24,000 | 296 lb |
| 4 | 4,872 | 40,000 | 593 lb |
| 6 | 7,308 | 64,000 | 889 lb |
Somervell County against the rest of Texas
Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Somervell County is number 57 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 85% of counties.
Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Somervell County: Kerr County (20.4), Cameron County (20.2), Jones County (20.2).