How hard is the water in Volusia County, FL?
16.1 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Volusia County, FL is 275 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 16.1 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 456 samples at 17 sites between 1990 and 2017, 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 10.9 and 20.1 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 16.1 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 7.0 to 25.6 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Volusia County was 119 mg/L and the hardest 438.1 mg/L, a 4-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 20.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 10.9 gpg.
Wells 16.1 gpg, rivers and lakes 10.6 gpg
456 groundwater samples from 17 wells put the median at 275 mg/L. 2,731 surface samples from 117 sites put it at 182 mg/L. In Volusia County the wells come out 5.5 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 351 lb of salt a year (9 bags of 40 lb, about $63), 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 $163 a year.
Sizing at 16.1 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 966 | 24,000 | 118 lb |
| 2 | 1,932 | 24,000 | 235 lb |
| 4 | 3,864 | 32,000 | 470 lb |
| 6 | 5,796 | 48,000 | 705 lb |
Volusia County against the rest of Florida
Among the 67 Florida counties with data, Volusia County is number 17 of 67 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 73% of counties.
Softest in Florida: Washington County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Sarasota County at 32.2 gpg. Closest to Volusia County: Orange County (15.8), Duval County (15.7), Miami-Dade County (14.9).