How hard is the water in Uvalde County, TX?
15 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Uvalde County, TX is 256 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 15 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 110 samples at 58 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 13.2 and 20.3 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 15 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 8.9 to 133.2 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Uvalde County was 153 mg/L and the hardest 2,280 mg/L, a 15-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 20.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 13.2 gpg.
Wells 15 gpg, rivers and lakes 13.4 gpg
110 groundwater samples from 58 wells put the median at 256 mg/L. 317 surface samples from 8 sites put it at 229.8 mg/L. In Uvalde County the wells come out 1.6 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. 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 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 327 lb of salt a year (9 bags of 40 lb, about $59), 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 $159 a year.
Sizing at 15 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 900 | 24,000 | 110 lb |
| 2 | 1,800 | 24,000 | 219 lb |
| 4 | 3,600 | 32,000 | 438 lb |
| 6 | 5,400 | 40,000 | 657 lb |
Uvalde County against the rest of Texas
Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Uvalde County is number 93 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 69% of counties.
Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Uvalde County: Coryell County (14.9), Swisher County (14.9), Andrews County (15.1).