How hard is the water in Switzerland County, IN?
17 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Switzerland County, IN is 291 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 17 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 5 samples at 4 sites between 2000 and 2019, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 14.5 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 17 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 12.3 to 28.2 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Switzerland County was 210 mg/L and the hardest 483 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 21 gpg and the bottom quarter below 14.5 gpg.
Wells 23.4 gpg, rivers and lakes 13.8 gpg
2 groundwater samples from 2 wells put the median at 401 mg/L. 3 surface samples from 2 sites put it at 236 mg/L. In Switzerland County the wells come out 9.6 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 371 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 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,020 | 24,000 | 124 lb |
| 2 | 2,040 | 24,000 | 248 lb |
| 4 | 4,080 | 32,000 | 496 lb |
| 6 | 6,120 | 48,000 | 745 lb |
Switzerland County against the rest of Indiana
Among the 91 Indiana counties with data, Switzerland County is number 43 of 91 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 76% of counties.
Softest in Indiana: Brown County at 3.8 gpg. Hardest: Warrick County at 40.3 gpg. Closest to Switzerland County: Morgan County (17), Huntington County (16.9), Steuben County (16.9).