Most articles about hard water are vague on purpose. This one is not, because the City of Midland publishes the figure itself.
400 to 600 parts per million
On the city's own water quality FAQ, Midland states that its water hardness ranges from 400 to 600 parts per million, and tells you how to convert it: divide by 17.12 to get grains per gallon. Do the arithmetic and Midland lands somewhere around 23 to 35 grains per gallon.
For context, the water treatment industry calls anything above roughly 10 grains “very hard”. Midland is two to three times that. It is not a marketing number and it did not come from us — it is the city's own figure and you can go and read it.
Where it comes from
Midland does not sit on a river. Its water is groundwater, drawn from the Ogallala and Edwards-Trinity Plateau aquifers by way of the T-Bar, Clearwater and Paul Davis well fields. Groundwater carries whatever rock it has been sitting in, and out here that means a great deal of dissolved calcium and magnesium.
What that does to a house
The water heater. This is the expensive one. Hardness comes out of solution when water is heated and settles as scale on the element and the tank base. Scale is an insulator, so the heater burns more energy to deliver the same hot water and runs hotter internally doing it. At Midland's hardness that process is not slow.
Everything you wash. Hard water reacts with soap instead of lathering with it. You use more detergent, more shampoo, more of everything — and the residue stays behind on skin and fabric, which is why towels go stiff and why your skin feels tight after a shower.
Everything you can see. The white crust around the faucet aerators, the film on the shower door two days after you cleaned it, the spots on glassware straight out of the dishwasher. All the same mineral.
What fixes it
A whole-home softener, plumbed in where the water enters the house so every tap, shower and appliance sits downstream of it. In a town with Midland's numbers that is not a luxury purchase, it is maintenance you have been deferring.
Call us and we will talk it through, and the free in-home test turns it into an exact number for your house.