Grafton, WI water hardness
Grafton water hardness, from the Village's own report
On the Village of Grafton's system, hardness is a published number: approximately 22 grains per gallon, from an average of 377 parts per million in the 2025 water quality report. This page covers where it comes from, which homes it describes and how it is used when you call.
Call (262) 829-5961Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmSource: Village of Grafton 2025 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report; Village of Grafton, Water Treatment page
Six wells, one aquifer, one average
The Village of Grafton's water utility runs six active deep wells, and all six tap the Niagara dolomite. According to the Village, the water gathers its calcium and magnesium while it moves through that rock.
Because the wells share one formation, the Village can describe its whole system with a single figure. The 2025 report states it as an average: 377 parts per million, or approximately 22 grains.
Where 377 sits on the hardness scale
For water, parts per million and milligrams per liter are the same measure, so 377 goes straight onto the USGS scale. The scale treats anything up to 60 as soft, 61 through 120 as moderately hard, 121 through 180 as hard and everything above 180 as very hard.
To turn the figure into grains per gallon, the unit a softener's setting uses, divide by 17.1. The very hard line works out to about 10.5 grains; Grafton's average works out to about 22, which is why the Village's own word for its water is very hard.
Homes the Village's figure does not describe
The report covers water delivered through the Village's own mains. A house on a private well, in the Town of Grafton or anywhere else, is not part of that average, and neither is a house on a different community's supply.
A yearly average also smooths over individual days. It tells you what village water was like across 2025; a reading at your own tap tells you what it is on the day someone takes it.
Looking the number up yourself
On a village connection, the Village publishes a drinking water quality report each year, and its Water Treatment page describes the hardness in plain words. Find the hardness line in the latest report and note its units.
On a private well, the figure lives on a lab report for that well. Look for hardness in milligrams per liter or in grains, and keep the date the sample was taken next to it.
What the quote call does with it
For a village home, the call starts from about 22 grains and adds the number of people in the house. For a well, it starts from your lab figure. In both cases the plumber measures your tap before the work and keeps measuring after it until the hardness reads zero.
Common questions
Is 22 grains unusually hard?
It sits a long way inside the very hard band of the USGS scale, a band that begins above 180 milligrams per liter, about 10.5 grains. Grafton's 2025 average was 377.
Will the number be different in next year's report?
Possibly. The Village reports every year, so check the hardness line when a new report comes out. Read us whichever figure is newest, and the plumber's reading on installation day covers the rest.
More for Grafton homes
- Water softener installation in Grafton, WI
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- Grafton water guides
- About Grafton Water Softener Co.
- Water softener quotes in Grafton, WI
- How to read Grafton's annual water report for hardness
- What setting does a softener need on Grafton village water?
- New to a Grafton house: what to learn about its water
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