How hard is the water in Winchester city, VA?

18.3 grains per gallon

A softener will pay its way here.

The median hardness measured in Winchester city, VA is 314 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 18.3 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 5 samples at 3 sites between 1993 and 2009, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.

How much it varies here

Half the sites came in between 14 and 19.1 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 18.3 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 9.6 to 19.9 gpg

The softest single sample on record in Winchester city was 164 mg/L and the hardest 340 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 19.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 14 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 401 lb of salt a year (11 bags of 40 lb, about $72), 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 $172 a year.

Sizing at 18.3 gpg

Winchester city against the rest of Virginia

Among the 126 Virginia counties with data, Winchester city is number 4 of 126 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 80% of counties.

Softest in Virginia: Isle of Wight County at 0.4 gpg. Hardest: Clarke County at 20.1 gpg. Closest to Winchester city: Mathews County (18.8), Shenandoah County (19), Staunton city (17.5).