Oregon City, OR water hardness

Tap water hardness
23mg/L
1.3gpg
Soft

Reported by Lake Oswego Municipal Water · April 2025

OR typical
24 mg/L
EPA health violations since 2016
0
Data
Utility report

The water in Oregon City carries roughly 23 mg/L of dissolved calcium and magnesium, or 1.3 grains per gallon. That is soft water. The number comes from Lake Oswego Municipal Water, dated April 2025.

Oregon City on the hardness scale, with nearby cities
060120180240300360+OR typical 24West Linn: 23 mg/LWest Linn 23Gladstone: 23 mg/LGladstone 23Jennings Lodge: 23 mg/LJennings Lodge 23Oak Grove: 23 mg/LOak Grove 23Happy Valley: 24 mg/LHappy Valley 24Wilsonville: 24 mg/LWilsonville 24Lake Oswego: 26 mg/LLake Oswego 26Oatfield: 56 mg/LOatfield 56Tualatin: 77 mg/LTualatin 77Milwaukie: 120 mg/LMilwaukie 120Oregon City 23mg/L as calcium carbonate060120180240300360+OR 24West Linn: 23 mg/LWest Linn 23Gladstone: 23 mg/LGladstone 23Jennings Lodge: 23 mg/LJennings L. 23Oak Grove: 23 mg/LOak Grove 23Lake Oswego: 26 mg/LLake Oswego 26Oatfield: 56 mg/LOatfield 5623 mg/Lmg/L as calcium carbonate
Soft 0–60 mg/LModerately hard 61–120 mg/LHard 121–180 mg/LVery hard 181+ mg/L

At 23 mg/L, Oregon City is close to the typical Oregon figure of 24 mg/L. None of the 10 nearest cities we track has softer water. The range nearby runs from 23 mg/L in West Linn to 120 in Milwaukie.

What 23 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 23 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 Oregon City's water system

Oregon City · PWSID OR4101511

No health-based violations since 2016

Serves about 33,940 people from surface water.

Health-based
0
Monitoring or reporting
0
Open now
0

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

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 Oregon City water hard?

No. It measures about 23 mg/L (1.3 grains per gallon), which the USGS classes as soft.

What is the water hardness in Oregon City in grains per gallon?

About 1.3 gpg. One grain per gallon equals 17.1 mg/L, so 23 mg/L divided by 17.1 gives 1.3.

Has the Oregon City water system had EPA violations?

EPA records show no health-based violations for Oregon City since 2016.

Nearby cities

All 53 cities in Oregon

Hardness data: TapWaterData US Water Hardness (utility report, April 21, 2025), CC BY 4.0. Population: US Census Bureau. Violations: EPA ECHO. How we use them.