How hard is the water in Summit County, UT?
13.7 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Summit County, UT is 235 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 13.7 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 71 samples at 66 sites between 1990 and 2015, 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 11.1 and 19.6 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 13.7 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 0.7 to 70.7 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Summit County was 11.6 mg/L and the hardest 1,210 mg/L, a 104-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 19.6 gpg and the bottom quarter below 11.1 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 13.7 gpg, rivers and lakes 11.3 gpg
71 groundwater samples from 66 wells put the median at 234.5 mg/L. 4,179 surface samples from 205 sites put it at 193.6 mg/L. In Summit County the wells come out 2.4 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 299 lb of salt a year (8 bags of 40 lb, about $54), 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 $154 a year.
Sizing at 13.7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 822 | 24,000 | 100 lb |
| 2 | 1,644 | 24,000 | 200 lb |
| 4 | 3,288 | 24,000 | 400 lb |
| 6 | 4,932 | 40,000 | 600 lb |
Summit County against the rest of Utah
Among the 29 Utah counties with data, Summit County is number 25 of 29 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 65% of counties.
Softest in Utah: Davis County at 9 gpg. Hardest: Emery County at 151.3 gpg. Closest to Summit County: Kane County (13.9), Daggett County (14), Weber County (14.1).