How hard is the water in Wirt County, WV?
7.7 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Wirt County, WV is 131 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 7.7 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 24 samples at 2 sites between 1990 and 2018, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 5.3 and 10.1 gpg. That spread crosses a decision line, so some homes here land on a different answer. A $10 test strip on your own tap settles it. Confidence in the county figure: low (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 7.7 gpg a softener is worth getting, mainly to protect the water heater and cut soap use. Get at least two quotes, ask each installer what grain capacity they are fitting, and check it against the sizing table below. Because Wirt County straddles a decision line, check your own tap with a $10 test strip before you spend anything.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 2.8 to 12.5 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Wirt County was 48.7 mg/L and the hardest 214 mg/L, a 4-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 10.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 5.3 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 12.5 gpg, rivers and lakes 2.8 gpg
1 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 214 mg/L. 23 surface samples from 1 sites put it at 48.7 mg/L. In Wirt County the wells come out 9.7 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 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 168 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $30), 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 $130 a year.
Sizing at 7.7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 462 | 24,000 | 56 lb |
| 2 | 924 | 24,000 | 112 lb |
| 4 | 1,848 | 24,000 | 225 lb |
| 6 | 2,772 | 24,000 | 337 lb |
Wirt County against the rest of West Virginia
Among the 54 West Virginia counties with data, Wirt County is number 17 of 54 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 41% of counties.
Softest in West Virginia: Calhoun County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Jefferson County at 20.4 gpg. Closest to Wirt County: Pocahontas County (7.4), Marion County (7.9), Mingo County (7.3).