Waukesha, WI water hardness
Waukesha water hardness, before and after the lake
City of Waukesha taps run about 8 grains per gallon on Lake Michigan water, the figure given by the City of Waukesha and the Great Water Alliance. Until October 2023 the city's deep wells delivered roughly 21.
Call (262) 333-5451Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmSource: City of Waukesha / Great Water Alliance, switch completed October 2023
Who supplies the water, and where it comes from
The Waukesha Water Utility serves the city. Since October 2023 its water has come from Lake Michigan, bought and piped in under the Great Lakes Compact of 2008, in place of the deep sandstone wells the city pumped before.
The published figures, old and new
The figure for today's supply is about 8 grains per gallon. The figure it replaced is roughly 21. Both come from the City of Waukesha and the Great Water Alliance, and together they make the lake water about 60% softer than the old wells.
Those numbers describe the city system as a whole. A softener is set for the water at your house, so that water is tested too.
Reading 8 and 21 grains on the USGS scale
The US Geological Survey grades hardness in milligrams per liter. Water up to 60 is soft, 61 to 120 moderately hard, 121 to 180 hard, and anything above 180 very hard, a line that sits at 10.5 grains per gallon. One grain per gallon equals 17.1 milligrams per liter.
Run the numbers and about 8 grains lands in the hard band, 121 to 180. The old 21 grains sat well past 180, twice the very hard threshold when you count in grains.
Where the 8 grain figure does not reach
Homes beyond the city system that run on private wells, including those in the Village of Waukesha and the Town of Genesee, never switched. Their hardness belongs to their own well, and the city publishes nothing for it.
The old 21 grains no longer describes any city tap, but a softener set before October 2023 may still be working from it.
Finding your number, and how the call uses it
On city water, the published figure plus your address is the starting point. On a well, look for the hardness line on a lab report; if it is in mg/L, dividing by 17.1 converts it to grains, and you can read it out on the call.
Either way, the number goes into sizing the system, and the water in your house gets measured before the work and after it, until the reading is zero.
Common questions
How many milligrams per liter is 8 grains?
Multiply grains by 17.1. For about 8 grains the result falls between 121 and 180 milligrams per liter, the band the USGS calls hard.
Is the Village of Waukesha on the 8 grain water too?
Only a home that is on the city's water system. A home there on a private well, like the well homes in the Town of Genesee, has its own hardness, which only a test of that water can show.
More for Waukesha homes
- Water softener installation in Waukesha, WI
- Water softener replacement in Waukesha, WI
- Well water softeners in Waukesha, WI
- Waukesha water and softener guides
- About Waukesha Water Softener Co.
- Water softener quotes in Waukesha, WI
- Softener optimization in Waukesha: what the salt program asks
- Does a Waukesha home on lake water still need a softener?
- What changed at Waukesha taps when the lake water arrived
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