Germantown, WI water hardness
Germantown water hardness
The Village of Germantown states its water's hardness as a single figure: 24 grains per gallon, averaged across all six of its wells. Here is where that number comes from, what it leaves out, and how a household finds the figure for its own faucet.
Call (262) 829-5961Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmSource: Village of Germantown, published water quality figures (all six wells, combined average, sampled October 6, 2018)
Six village wells, all groundwater
Homes on the village mains get their water from the Village of Germantown water utility, which pumps six municipal wells. All six draw groundwater, and no lake water enters the system anywhere.
A hardness figure counts the calcium and magnesium held in that water, and the Village states it as a single number for the whole system rather than well by well.
What the Village published: 24 grains, combined
The Village reports hardness as one combined average across all six wells, 24 grains per gallon, based on samples taken on October 6, 2018.
That places Germantown's water among the hardest any municipal system in southeastern Wisconsin publishes, at three times the figure for the lake-water suburbs twenty minutes east.
Where the 24 does not reach
An average of six wells is a statement about the system. Any one well can run above or below it, and the published figure does not say which well serves which part of the village, so the reading at a single faucet may land on either side.
Private wells sit outside it altogether. A home that pumps its own well, whether in the Town of Germantown or anywhere else the mains do not reach, has a hardness no one has published, and only a lab sheet or a faucet test will reveal it.
The date counts too. An October 2018 sample describes village water as it was sampled that month; your faucet gets read fresh on install day.
Germantown on the USGS hardness scale
The USGS bands, measured in milligrams per liter: soft through 60, moderately hard from 61, hard from 121, very hard beyond 180. Expressed in grains, the very hard line sits at 10.5.
Germantown's 24-grain average clears that line twice over. A lab sheet printed in milligrams per liter converts with one division, by 17.1, and then it can sit beside the Village's number.
Your own number: the Village figure, a lab sheet or the faucet
On village water, the 24-grain average and its October 2018 date appear in the Village's published water quality figures. On a private well, the hardness entry on your lab sheet is the figure, in whatever unit the lab chose.
During the call, a village address starts the sizing at 24 grains, and a well home starts from its lab sheet or, lacking one, from what you describe. Either way the plumber checks hardness at your faucet before any connection is made, then checks again at the end until it shows zero.
Common questions
Is Germantown water merely hard, or very hard?
Very hard. The Village's 24-grain average is more than double the 10.5 grains at which the USGS very hard band begins.
Why does the Village give one number for six wells?
It publishes a combined average of all six. That is a fair summary of the system, and the reason a single kitchen faucet can read above or below it.
Does the 24-grain figure cover private wells near Germantown?
No. It covers the Village's six municipal wells and the water they send through the mains. Water from a household well gets its own number, from a lab sheet or a test at the faucet.
More for Germantown homes
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- Germantown water guides
- About Germantown Water Softener Co.
- Water softener quotes in Germantown, WI
- How to read Germantown's six-well hardness average
- Why Germantown's water is three times as hard as the lake suburbs
- Germantown softener settings, from 24 grains to your faucet
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