How hard is the water in Tippecanoe County, IN?
20.4 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Tippecanoe County, IN is 350 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 20.4 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 94 samples at 32 sites between 1990 and 2014, 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 19.5 and 22.3 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 20.4 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 11.1 to 30.4 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Tippecanoe County was 190 mg/L and the hardest 520 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 22.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 19.5 gpg.
Wells 20.4 gpg, rivers and lakes 19.3 gpg
94 groundwater samples from 32 wells put the median at 350 mg/L. 462 surface samples from 31 sites put it at 330 mg/L. In Tippecanoe County the wells come out 1.1 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 32,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 447 lb of salt a year (12 bags of 40 lb, about $80), 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 $180 a year.
Sizing at 20.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,224 | 24,000 | 149 lb |
| 2 | 2,448 | 24,000 | 298 lb |
| 4 | 4,896 | 40,000 | 596 lb |
| 6 | 7,344 | 64,000 | 894 lb |
Tippecanoe County against the rest of Indiana
Among the 91 Indiana counties with data, Tippecanoe County is number 12 of 91 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 85% of counties.
Softest in Indiana: Brown County at 3.8 gpg. Hardest: Warrick County at 40.3 gpg. Closest to Tippecanoe County: Clinton County (20.4), Henry County (20.4), Whitley County (20.4).