Hard water in Augusta, ME
Reported by Greater Augusta Utility District · July 2025
- ME typical
- 16 mg/L
- EPA health violations since 2016
- 0
- Softener for 3 people
- 24k grain
- Data
- Utility report
Augusta water measures 136 mg/L (8.0 gpg) of hardness, hard by USGS standards. The number comes from Greater Augusta Utility District, dated July 2025.
Augusta sits 120 mg/L above the typical Maine figure of 16. None of the 10 nearest cities we track has harder water. The range nearby runs from 8 mg/L in Portland to 102 in Waterville.
What 136 mg/L means at home
Expect white crust on faucets and showerheads, plus spots on dishes that come out of the dishwasher.
Kettles collect scale quickly. Water heaters build up sediment at the bottom of the tank, which makes them work harder over time.
Soap and detergent need a little more to lather, and soap scum shows up in the tub.
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
At 136 mg/L most of the trouble is scale, and only a few things deal with it.
Ion-exchange water softener
The standard whole-house fix. It swaps calcium and magnesium for sodium or potassium and needs salt plus a drain. Size it with the calculator below.
Salt-free conditioner
No salt and no drain line. It changes how minerals form scale instead of removing them, so water still tests hard.
Reverse osmosis or carbon filter
Under-sink reverse osmosis removes minerals from drinking water only. Plain carbon filters improve taste but do not soften.
3 people × 75 gallons a day × 8.0 gpg = 1,789 grains a day. A 24,000-grain unit regenerates about every 13 days.
EPA record for Augusta's water system
No health-based violations since 2016
Serves about 13,750 people from groundwater.
- Health-based
- 0
- Monitoring or reporting
- 2
- Open now
- 0
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 Augusta water hard?
Yes. It measures about 136 mg/L (8.0 grains per gallon), which the USGS classes as hard.
What is the water hardness in Augusta in grains per gallon?
About 8.0 gpg. One grain per gallon equals 17.1 mg/L, so 136 mg/L divided by 17.1 gives 8.0.
What size water softener do I need in Augusta?
For 3 people using 75 gallons each per day, 8.0 gpg works out to about 1,789 grains a day. A 24,000-grain softener covers that with a regeneration about every 13 days.
Has the Augusta water system had EPA violations?
EPA records show no health-based violations for Greater Augusta Utility District since 2016. There were also 2 monitoring or reporting violations, which are about late or missing tests and notices.
Nearby cities
- Gardiner96 mg/LModerately hard
- Waterville102 mg/LModerately hard
- Winslow28 mg/LSoft
- Lewiston16 mg/LSoft
- Bath9 mg/LSoft
- Topsham39 mg/LSoft
- Auburn89 mg/LModerately hard
- Brunswick14 mg/LSoft
- Yarmouth76 mg/LModerately hard
- Portland8 mg/LSoft
Hardness data: TapWaterData US Water Hardness (utility report, July 18, 2025), CC BY 4.0. Population: US Census Bureau. Violations: EPA ECHO. How we use them.