How hard is the water in Wharton County, TX?

13.8 grains per gallon

A softener will pay its way here.

The median hardness measured in Wharton County, TX is 236 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 13.8 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 32 samples at 1 sites between 1990 and 1995, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.

How much it varies here

Half the sites came in between 13.8 and 13.8 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: low (how it is measured).

What to do next

At 13.8 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 13.8 to 13.8 gpg

The softest single sample on record in Wharton County was 235.5 mg/L and the hardest 235.5 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 13.8 gpg and the bottom quarter below 13.8 gpg.

What a softener would cost to run

For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 300 lb of salt a year (8 bags of 40 lb, about $54), 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 $154 a year.

Sizing at 13.8 gpg

Wharton County against the rest of Texas

Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Wharton County is number 100 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 65% of counties.

Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Wharton County: Hansford County (13.7), Terrell County (13.7), Medina County (14).