How hard is the water in Thomas County, KS?
9.6 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Thomas County, KS is 165 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 9.6 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 5 samples at 4 sites between 2003 and 2015, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 7.7 and 10.3 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 9.6 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 3.6 to 10.5 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Thomas County was 61 mg/L and the hardest 180 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 10.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 7.7 gpg.
Wells 10.2 gpg, rivers and lakes 3.6 gpg
3 groundwater samples from 3 wells put the median at 174 mg/L. 2 surface samples from 1 sites put it at 61 mg/L. In Thomas County the wells come out 6.6 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 210 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $38), 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 $138 a year.
Sizing at 9.6 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 576 | 24,000 | 70 lb |
| 2 | 1,152 | 24,000 | 140 lb |
| 4 | 2,304 | 24,000 | 280 lb |
| 6 | 3,456 | 32,000 | 420 lb |
Thomas County against the rest of Kansas
Among the 105 Kansas counties with data, Thomas County is number 96 of 105 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 50% of counties.
Softest in Kansas: Woodson County at 6.3 gpg. Hardest: Linn County at 114.5 gpg. Closest to Thomas County: Bourbon County (9.3), Coffey County (9.3), Elk County (9.9).