How hard is the water in Washakie County, WY?
7.9 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Washakie County, WY is 135 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 7.9 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 16 samples at 15 sites between 1990 and 2022, 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 1.9 and 22.1 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 7.9 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 Washakie 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 0.7 to 50.6 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Washakie County was 12.2 mg/L and the hardest 866 mg/L, a 71-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 22.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 1.9 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 7.9 gpg, rivers and lakes 8.7 gpg
16 groundwater samples from 15 wells put the median at 135 mg/L. 79 surface samples from 2 sites put it at 148.8 mg/L. In Washakie County the rivers and lakes come out 0.8 gpg harder. Here the surface water reads harder than the wells, which often points to streams fed by limestone springs or irrigation return flow. 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 172 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $31), 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 $131 a year.
Sizing at 7.9 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 474 | 24,000 | 58 lb |
| 2 | 948 | 24,000 | 115 lb |
| 4 | 1,896 | 24,000 | 231 lb |
| 6 | 2,844 | 24,000 | 346 lb |
Washakie County against the rest of Wyoming
Among the 23 Wyoming counties with data, Washakie County is number 21 of 23 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 42% of counties.
Softest in Wyoming: Park County at 1.4 gpg. Hardest: Natrona County at 124.4 gpg. Closest to Washakie County: Teton County (8.5), Laramie County (8.7), Campbell County (8.9).