How hard is the water in Washington County, NE?
23.7 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Washington County, NE is 405 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 23.7 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 82 samples at 22 sites between 1991 and 2015, 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 19.7 and 35 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 23.7 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 14.0 to 47.9 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Washington County was 240.5 mg/L and the hardest 820 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 35 gpg and the bottom quarter below 19.7 gpg.
Wells 23.7 gpg, rivers and lakes 19.6 gpg
82 groundwater samples from 22 wells put the median at 405 mg/L. 1 surface samples from 1 sites put it at 335 mg/L. In Washington County the wells come out 4.1 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 32,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 517 lb of salt a year (13 bags of 40 lb, about $93), 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 $193 a year.
Sizing at 23.7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,422 | 24,000 | 173 lb |
| 2 | 2,844 | 24,000 | 346 lb |
| 4 | 5,688 | 40,000 | 692 lb |
| 6 | 8,532 | 64,000 | 1,038 lb |
Washington County against the rest of Nebraska
Among the 89 Nebraska counties with data, Washington County is number 5 of 89 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 90% of counties.
Softest in Nebraska: Blaine County at 2.1 gpg. Hardest: Cedar County at 36.5 gpg. Closest to Washington County: Wayne County (23.7), Dawson County (23.2), Thurston County (22.9).