How hard is the water in Victoria County, TX?
17.5 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Victoria County, TX is 300 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 17.5 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 24 samples at 4 sites between 1990 and 2010, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 14.2 and 21 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 17.5 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 12.7 to 23.0 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Victoria County was 218 mg/L and the hardest 394 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 21 gpg and the bottom quarter below 14.2 gpg.
Wells 20.3 gpg, rivers and lakes 12.7 gpg
5 groundwater samples from 3 wells put the median at 347 mg/L. 19 surface samples from 1 sites put it at 218 mg/L. In Victoria County the wells come out 7.6 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. 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 382 lb of salt a year (10 bags of 40 lb, about $69), 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 $169 a year.
Sizing at 17.5 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,050 | 24,000 | 128 lb |
| 2 | 2,100 | 24,000 | 256 lb |
| 4 | 4,200 | 32,000 | 511 lb |
| 6 | 6,300 | 48,000 | 767 lb |
Victoria County against the rest of Texas
Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Victoria County is number 70 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 77% of counties.
Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Victoria County: Val Verde County (17.5), La Salle County (17.4), Goliad County (17.7).