How hard is the water in Wood County, WI?
8.2 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Wood County, WI is 140 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 8.2 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 146 samples at 17 sites between 1990 and 2004, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 3.5 and 10.6 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 8.2 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 Wood 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 2.5 to 14.3 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Wood County was 42.2 mg/L and the hardest 244 mg/L, a 6-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 10.6 gpg and the bottom quarter below 3.5 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 179 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $32), 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 $132 a year.
Sizing at 8.2 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 492 | 24,000 | 60 lb |
| 2 | 984 | 24,000 | 120 lb |
| 4 | 1,968 | 24,000 | 239 lb |
| 6 | 2,952 | 24,000 | 359 lb |
Wood County against the rest of Wisconsin
Among the 72 Wisconsin counties with data, Wood County is number 44 of 72 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 43% of counties.
Softest in Wisconsin: Vilas County at 1.4 gpg. Hardest: Calumet County at 28.4 gpg. Closest to Wood County: Menominee County (7.9), Monroe County (9.1), Sauk County (7).