Softening Peoria's water, street by street
The City of Peoria Water Services Department tested hardness at 48 stations across the city. The results show how much hardness can change from one neighborhood to the next.
Peoria water hardness by area
Figures published by City of Peoria Water Services Department. The dial setting is the number to enter on your softener.
| City or area | How hard | Range (grains per gallon) | Softener dial setting | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peoria | Very hard | 5.1 to 19.7 | 13 | City of Peoria Water Services Department, hardness study, 2020 |
1. Where do you live?
2. How many people live in your home?
What the dial setting means
Every softener has a control valve on top with a setting for your water's hardness, usually labelled "hardness" or "grains". Enter this number there. It tells the softener how hard your water is, so it knows when it is full.
"Recharging" (some manuals say "regenerating") is the softener cleaning itself: it rinses its resin beads with salty water to flush out the minerals they have caught. With this setting it happens on its own, about every 8 days in your home, usually at night.
Set the number too low and hard water slips through before the next recharge. Set it too high and the softener recharges early, wasting salt and water.
Peoria's hardness varies a lot by neighborhood. We use the middle of the city's 48 test sites. Source: City of Peoria Water Services Department, hardness study, 2020.
We don't make, sell or install water softeners or filters, and no company pays to be listed or ranked.
How this figure was measured
Who published it
What the figure is
How we use it
Why Peoria publishes 48 numbers
Instead of a single citywide figure, Peoria measured hardness at 48 sampling stations in March, April and May 2020 and published each station’s average. The lowest station averaged 5.1 grains per gallon, which is only moderately hard; the highest averaged 19.7, which is extremely hard on our scale.
Test first, then size
With a spread that wide, the calculator’s citywide figure is only a starting point. A home test kit costs far less than a softener that is the wrong size. Enter your result above and the size, salt and dial setting update for your own water.
A worked example
Using the middle of the range, a household of four in Peoria needs a 32,000-grain softener, recharging about every 8 days on around 11 bags of salt a year. If your test reads nearer 19, the same household moves up to a 40,000-grain softener.
Three sources in the mix
Peoria blends Colorado River water from the Central Arizona Project, Salt and Verde river water from the Salt River Project and a small share of well water. Elsewhere in the Valley, Mesa’s report shows Colorado River water running harder than Salt and Verde water, so which blend reaches your street is worth knowing.
Common questions
- How hard is the water in Peoria, AZ?
- The City of Peoria Water Services Department's 2020 hardness study found averages from 5.1 to 19.7 grains per gallon across 48 sampling stations, a range from moderately hard to extremely hard.
- Where does Peoria's water come from?
- In 2024, according to the city's annual water quality report for that year, 57 percent came from the Colorado River through the Central Arizona Project, 35 percent from the Salt and Verde rivers through the Salt River Project, and 8 percent from city wells.
- How old is the Peoria hardness data?
- The study is from 2020, the newest by-location hardness data the city has published. Supplies can shift over time, which is another reason to test your own water.