How hard is the water in Trinity County, CA?
7.4 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Trinity County, CA is 127 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 7.4 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 16 samples at 14 sites between 2010 and 2015, 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 4.4 and 9.5 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 7.4 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. Because Trinity 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 2.3 to 14.2 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Trinity County was 39.3 mg/L and the hardest 243 mg/L, a 6-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 9.5 gpg and the bottom quarter below 4.4 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 162 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $29), 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 $129 a year.
Sizing at 7.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 444 | 24,000 | 54 lb |
| 2 | 888 | 24,000 | 108 lb |
| 4 | 1,776 | 24,000 | 216 lb |
| 6 | 2,664 | 24,000 | 324 lb |
Trinity County against the rest of California
Among the 58 California counties with data, Trinity County is number 33 of 58 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 40% of counties.
Softest in California: Sierra County at 1.7 gpg. Hardest: Calaveras County at 98.3 gpg. Closest to Trinity County: San Bernardino County (7.4), Sonoma County (7.3), Sacramento County (6.7).