How hard is the water in Stark County, ND?
17.1 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Stark County, ND is 293 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 17.1 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 361 samples at 14 sites between 1990 and 2023, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 11 and 19.7 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 17.1 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 0.6 to 36.6 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Stark County was 10.2 mg/L and the hardest 626 mg/L, a 61-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 19.7 gpg and the bottom quarter below 11 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 19.2 gpg, rivers and lakes 17.1 gpg
7 groundwater samples from 3 wells put the median at 329 mg/L. 354 surface samples from 11 sites put it at 293 mg/L. In Stark County the wells come out 2.1 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. The two sources are close, so the county figure should hold whichever one your tap is on.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 374 lb of salt a year (10 bags of 40 lb, about $67), 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 $167 a year.
Sizing at 17.1 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,026 | 24,000 | 125 lb |
| 2 | 2,052 | 24,000 | 250 lb |
| 4 | 4,104 | 32,000 | 499 lb |
| 6 | 6,156 | 48,000 | 749 lb |
Stark County against the rest of North Dakota
Among the 53 North Dakota counties with data, Stark County is number 35 of 53 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 76% of counties.
Softest in North Dakota: Hettinger County at 1.1 gpg. Hardest: Walsh County at 54 gpg. Closest to Stark County: Ransom County (17.4), McLean County (17.7), McKenzie County (16.4).