How hard is the water in Webster County, IA?
28 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Webster County, IA is 480 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 28 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 30 samples at 13 sites between 1991 and 2014, 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 25.4 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 28 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 23.4 to 70.1 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Webster County was 400 mg/L and the hardest 1,200 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 35 gpg and the bottom quarter below 25.4 gpg.
Wells 28 gpg, rivers and lakes 15.8 gpg
30 groundwater samples from 13 wells put the median at 480 mg/L. 1 surface samples from 1 sites put it at 271 mg/L. In Webster County the wells come out 12.2 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 40,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 612 lb of salt a year (16 bags of 40 lb, about $110), 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 $210 a year.
Sizing at 28 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,680 | 24,000 | 204 lb |
| 2 | 3,360 | 24,000 | 409 lb |
| 4 | 6,720 | 48,000 | 818 lb |
| 6 | 10,080 | 80,000 | 1,226 lb |
Webster County against the rest of Iowa
Among the 93 Iowa counties with data, Webster County is number 11 of 93 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 94% of counties.
Softest in Iowa: Taylor County at 8.2 gpg. Hardest: Pocahontas County at 45.3 gpg. Closest to Webster County: Monona County (27.5), Greene County (28.8), Poweshiek County (27.2).