Hard water in McKinney, TX
Reported by City of McKinney · July 2025
- TX typical
- 112 mg/L
- EPA health violations since 2016
- 0
- Softener for 3 people
- 24k grain
- Data
- Utility report
McKinney water measures 132 mg/L (7.8 gpg) of hardness, hard by USGS standards. The number comes from City of McKinney, dated July 2025. Reports for this system disagree, with values from 132 to 157 mg/L.
McKinney sits 20 mg/L above the typical Texas figure of 112. Of the 10 nearest cities we track, 8 have softer water and 2 have harder. The range nearby runs from 40 mg/L in Celina to 150 in Plano.
What 132 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 132 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 × 7.8 gpg = 1,744 grains a day. A 24,000-grain unit regenerates about every 13 days.
EPA record for McKinney's water system
No health-based violations since 2016
Serves about 224,043 people from surface water.
- 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 McKinney water hard?
Yes. It measures about 132 mg/L (7.8 grains per gallon), which the USGS classes as hard.
What is the water hardness in McKinney in grains per gallon?
About 7.8 gpg. One grain per gallon equals 17.1 mg/L, so 132 mg/L divided by 17.1 gives 7.8.
What size water softener do I need in McKinney?
For 3 people using 75 gallons each per day, 7.8 gpg works out to about 1,744 grains a day. A 24,000-grain softener covers that with a regeneration about every 13 days.
Has the McKinney water system had EPA violations?
EPA records show no health-based violations for City of McKinney since 2016. There were also 2 monitoring or reporting violations, which are about late or missing tests and notices.
Nearby cities
- Fairview90 mg/LModerately hard
- Allen109 mg/LModerately hard
- Lucas110 mg/LModerately hard
- Melissa111 mg/LModerately hard
- Princeton116 mg/LModerately hard
- Frisco149 mg/LHard
- Celina40 mg/LSoft
- Plano150 mg/LHard
- Anna62 mg/LModerately hard
- Murphy108 mg/LModerately hard
Hardness data: TapWaterData US Water Hardness (utility report, July 8, 2025), CC BY 4.0. Population: US Census Bureau. Violations: EPA ECHO. How we use them.