How hard is the water in Tuscola County, MI?
17.3 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Tuscola County, MI is 297 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 17.3 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 12 samples at 9 sites between 1997 and 2008, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 14.3 and 18.1 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 17.3 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 7.6 to 20.3 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Tuscola County was 130 mg/L and the hardest 348 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 18.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 14.3 gpg.
Wells 17.4 gpg, rivers and lakes 14.3 gpg
4 groundwater samples from 4 wells put the median at 298.5 mg/L. 8 surface samples from 5 sites put it at 245 mg/L. In Tuscola County the wells come out 3.1 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. 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 379 lb of salt a year (10 bags of 40 lb, about $68), 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 $168 a year.
Sizing at 17.3 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,038 | 24,000 | 126 lb |
| 2 | 2,076 | 24,000 | 253 lb |
| 4 | 4,152 | 32,000 | 505 lb |
| 6 | 6,228 | 48,000 | 758 lb |
Tuscola County against the rest of Michigan
Among the 82 Michigan counties with data, Tuscola County is number 15 of 82 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 77% of counties.
Softest in Michigan: Luce County at 1.9 gpg. Hardest: Wayne County at 47.4 gpg. Closest to Tuscola County: Dickinson County (18), Shiawassee County (18.3), Macomb County (18.4).