How hard is the water in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, AK?

16.3 grains per gallon

A softener will pay its way here.

The median hardness measured in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, AK is 279 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 16.3 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 41 samples at 7 sites between 1992 and 2005, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.

How much it varies here

Half the sites came in between 12.9 and 21 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 16.3 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 6.1 to 24.0 gpg

The softest single sample on record in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area was 105 mg/L and the hardest 411 mg/L, a 4-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 21 gpg and the bottom quarter below 12.9 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 356 lb of salt a year (9 bags of 40 lb, about $64), 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 $164 a year.

Sizing at 16.3 gpg

Southeast Fairbanks Census Area against the rest of Alaska

Among the 22 Alaska counties with data, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area is the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 73% of counties.

Softest in Alaska: Petersburg Borough at 0.3 gpg. Closest to Southeast Fairbanks Census Area: Fairbanks North Star Borough (13.2), Denali Borough (10.3), North Slope Borough (10).