How hard is the water in Stone County, AR?
8 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Stone County, AR is 138 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 8 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 784 samples at 33 sites between 1990 and 2026, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 7.8 and 8.6 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 8 gpg a softener is worth getting, mainly to protect the water heater and cut soap use. Get at least two quotes, ask each installer what grain capacity they are fitting, and check it against the sizing table below.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 0.6 to 12.9 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Stone County was 11 mg/L and the hardest 220 mg/L, a 20-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 8.6 gpg and the bottom quarter below 7.8 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 8.2 gpg, rivers and lakes 8 gpg
3 groundwater samples from 3 wells put the median at 141 mg/L. 779 surface samples from 29 sites put it at 137 mg/L. In Stone County the wells come out 0.2 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 175 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $32), 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 $132 a year.
Sizing at 8 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 480 | 24,000 | 58 lb |
| 2 | 960 | 24,000 | 117 lb |
| 4 | 1,920 | 24,000 | 234 lb |
| 6 | 2,880 | 24,000 | 350 lb |
Stone County against the rest of Arkansas
Among the 75 Arkansas counties with data, Stone County is number 24 of 75 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 43% of counties.
Softest in Arkansas: Hempstead County at 0.1 gpg. Hardest: Prairie County at 23.9 gpg. Closest to Stone County: Washington County (8.5), Craighead County (7.4), Benton County (7.3).