How hard is the water in Wibaux County, MT?
30.8 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Wibaux County, MT is 527 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 30.8 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 6 samples at 6 sites between 1994 and 2013, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 21.5 and 40.5 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 30.8 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 5.6 to 61.3 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Wibaux County was 96.5 mg/L and the hardest 1,050 mg/L, an 11-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 40.5 gpg and the bottom quarter below 21.5 gpg.
Wells 33.8 gpg, rivers and lakes 23.6 gpg
1 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 578 mg/L. 4 surface samples from 4 sites put it at 404.5 mg/L. In Wibaux County the wells come out 10.2 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 672 lb of salt a year (17 bags of 40 lb, about $121), 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 $221 a year.
Sizing at 30.8 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,848 | 24,000 | 225 lb |
| 2 | 3,696 | 32,000 | 450 lb |
| 4 | 7,392 | 64,000 | 899 lb |
| 6 | 11,088 | 80,000 | 1,349 lb |
Wibaux County against the rest of Montana
Among the 56 Montana counties with data, Wibaux County is number 12 of 56 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 95% of counties.
Softest in Montana: Lincoln County at 3.4 gpg. Hardest: Rosebud County at 138.9 gpg. Closest to Wibaux County: Dawson County (30.2), Big Horn County (32.1), Richland County (29.1).