Shasta Lake, CA water hardness

Tap water hardness
30mg/L
1.7gpg
SoftReports range 18–30

Reported by City of Redding · July 2025

CA typical
121 mg/L
EPA health violations since 2016
0
Data
Utility report

Shasta Lake water measures 30 mg/L (1.7 gpg) of hardness, soft by USGS standards. The number comes from City of Redding, dated July 2025. Reports for this system disagree, with values from 18 to 30 mg/L.

Shasta Lake on the hardness scale, with nearby cities
060120180240300360+CA typical 121Oroville: 24 mg/LOroville 24Redding: 32 mg/LRedding 32Cottonwood: 37 mg/LCottonwood 37Myrtletown: 78 mg/LMyrtletown 78Eureka: 78 mg/LEureka 78McKinleyville: 91 mg/LMcKinleyville 91Anderson: 98 mg/LAnderson 98Chico: 154 mg/LChico 154Durham: 154 mg/LDurham 154Orland: 356 mg/LOrland 356Shasta Lake 30mg/L as calcium carbonate060120180240300360+CA 121Redding: 32 mg/LRedding 32Cottonwood: 37 mg/LCottonwood 37Anderson: 98 mg/LAnderson 98Chico: 154 mg/LChico 154Durham: 154 mg/LDurham 154Orland: 356 mg/LOrland 35630 mg/Lmg/L as calcium carbonate
Soft 0–60 mg/LModerately hard 61–120 mg/LHard 121–180 mg/LVery hard 181+ mg/L

Shasta Lake sits 91 mg/L below the typical California figure of 121. Of the 10 nearest cities we track, 1 has softer water and 9 have harder. The range nearby runs from 24 mg/L in Oroville to 356 in Orland.

What 30 mg/L means at home

Soap and shampoo lather with very little product. Kettles and showerheads stay mostly free of white crust.

Some people notice that soap feels slow to rinse off in soft water. That slippery feel is normal and harmless.

Hardness is not a health problem, and EPA sets no limit for it. It is a matter of scale and soap.

What to do about it

Nothing, as far as hardness goes. At 30 mg/L a softener would have almost nothing to remove.

Carbon filter

If the water tastes of chlorine, a pitcher or faucet carbon filter takes care of that. It does not change hardness.

EPA record for Shasta Lake's water system

City of Shasta Lake · PWSID CA4510006

No health-based violations since 2016

Serves about 10,371 people from surface water.

Health-based
0
Monitoring or reporting
0
Open now
0

EPA lists City of Shasta Lake as the system serving Shasta Lake. The hardness figure above comes from a different system's report, which TapWaterData uses for Shasta Lake.

Health-based means a contaminant above its legal limit or a missed treatment step. Monitoring and reporting violations are late or missing tests and notices. Source: EPA ECHO, 2026Q3 export, violations with periods starting 2016 or later. Full EPA record.

Questions

Is Shasta Lake water hard?

No. It measures about 30 mg/L (1.7 grains per gallon), which the USGS classes as soft.

What is the water hardness in Shasta Lake in grains per gallon?

About 1.7 gpg. One grain per gallon equals 17.1 mg/L, so 30 mg/L divided by 17.1 gives 1.7.

Has the Shasta Lake water system had EPA violations?

EPA records show no health-based violations for City of Shasta Lake since 2016.

Nearby cities

All 515 cities in California

Hardness data: TapWaterData US Water Hardness (utility report, July 28, 2025), CC BY 4.0. Population: US Census Bureau. Violations: EPA ECHO. How we use them.