How hard is the water in Towner County, ND?
49.6 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Towner County, ND is 849 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 49.6 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 13 samples at 5 sites between 1990 and 2023, 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 25.1 and 56.2 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 49.6 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 14.0 to 59.6 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Towner County was 240 mg/L and the hardest 1,020 mg/L, a 4-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 56.2 gpg and the bottom quarter below 25.1 gpg.
Wells 49.6 gpg, rivers and lakes 24.8 gpg
13 groundwater samples from 5 wells put the median at 849 mg/L. 373 surface samples from 17 sites put it at 425 mg/L. In Towner County the wells come out 24.8 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 64,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 1,083 lb of salt a year (28 bags of 40 lb, about $195), 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 $295 a year.
Sizing at 49.6 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2,976 | 24,000 | 362 lb |
| 2 | 5,952 | 48,000 | 724 lb |
| 4 | 11,904 | twin tank | 1,448 lb |
| 6 | 17,856 | twin tank | 2,172 lb |
Towner County against the rest of North Dakota
Among the 53 North Dakota counties with data, Towner County is number 4 of 53 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 98% of counties.
Softest in North Dakota: Hettinger County at 1.1 gpg. Hardest: Walsh County at 54 gpg. Closest to Towner County: Ward County (50.8), Sheridan County (52.2), Walsh County (54).