How hard is the water in Woodford County, IL?
21.3 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Woodford County, IL is 364 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 21.3 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 6 samples at 5 sites between 1996 and 2014, drawn from groundwater wells, which is what most taps and private wells in the county draw on.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 18 and 23.4 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 21.3 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 12.2 to 24.4 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Woodford County was 209 mg/L and the hardest 418 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 23.4 gpg and the bottom quarter below 18 gpg.
Wells 21.3 gpg, rivers and lakes 18.7 gpg
6 groundwater samples from 5 wells put the median at 364 mg/L. 39 surface samples from 8 sites put it at 319.5 mg/L. In Woodford County the wells come out 2.6 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. The two sources are close, so the county figure should hold whichever one your tap is on.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 32,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 464 lb of salt a year (12 bags of 40 lb, about $84), 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 $184 a year.
Sizing at 21.3 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,278 | 24,000 | 155 lb |
| 2 | 2,556 | 24,000 | 311 lb |
| 4 | 5,112 | 40,000 | 622 lb |
| 6 | 7,668 | 64,000 | 933 lb |
Woodford County against the rest of Illinois
Among the 102 Illinois counties with data, Woodford County is number 20 of 102 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 87% of counties.
Softest in Illinois: Pope County at 4.3 gpg. Hardest: Cook County at 34.8 gpg. Closest to Woodford County: Saline County (21), Carroll County (20.9), Stephenson County (21.6).