How hard is the water in Sumter County, FL?
12.2 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Sumter County, FL is 209 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 12.2 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 66 samples at 45 sites between 1990 and 2017, 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 8.9 and 14.1 gpg. That spread crosses a decision line, so some homes here land on a different answer. A $10 test strip on your own tap settles it. Confidence in the county figure: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 12.2 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. Because Sumter County straddles a decision line, check your own tap with a $10 test strip before you spend anything.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 4.7 to 110.1 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Sumter County was 79.9 mg/L and the hardest 1,885 mg/L, a 24-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 14.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 8.9 gpg.
Wells 12.2 gpg, rivers and lakes 8.4 gpg
66 groundwater samples from 45 wells put the median at 209 mg/L. 113 surface samples from 27 sites put it at 144 mg/L. In Sumter County the wells come out 3.8 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. A utility here that draws from the river can deliver noticeably different water from a private well next door.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 267 lb of salt a year (7 bags of 40 lb, about $48), 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 $148 a year.
Sizing at 12.2 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 732 | 24,000 | 89 lb |
| 2 | 1,464 | 24,000 | 178 lb |
| 4 | 2,928 | 24,000 | 356 lb |
| 6 | 4,392 | 32,000 | 534 lb |
Sumter County against the rest of Florida
Among the 67 Florida counties with data, Sumter County is number 26 of 67 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 59% of counties.
Softest in Florida: Washington County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Sarasota County at 32.2 gpg. Closest to Sumter County: Lafayette County (12), Gilchrist County (12.6), Dixie County (12.7).