How hard is the water in Wright County, MO?
10 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Wright County, MO is 171 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 10 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 11 samples at 4 sites between 1993 and 2016, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 9.2 and 11.3 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 10 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 Wright 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 8.3 to 13.8 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Wright County was 142.5 mg/L and the hardest 236 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 11.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 9.2 gpg.
Wells 11.6 gpg, rivers and lakes 9.4 gpg
2 groundwater samples from 2 wells put the median at 199 mg/L. 9 surface samples from 2 sites put it at 161.3 mg/L. In Wright County the wells come out 2.2 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. 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 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 218 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $39), 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 $139 a year.
Sizing at 10 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 600 | 24,000 | 73 lb |
| 2 | 1,200 | 24,000 | 146 lb |
| 4 | 2,400 | 24,000 | 292 lb |
| 6 | 3,600 | 32,000 | 438 lb |
Wright County against the rest of Missouri
Among the 110 Missouri counties with data, Wright County is number 88 of 110 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 51% of counties.
Softest in Missouri: Livingston County at 4.1 gpg. Hardest: Reynolds County at 96.7 gpg. Closest to Wright County: Christian County (9.9), Marion County (9.8), Ripley County (9.9).