Water Treatment, Budget & ROI

Treatment and money: water softener sizing (grains/day = hardness gpg × daily gallons; regen interval = grain capacity ÷ grains/day), salt usage & cost, whole-house filtration / UV cost, well-water test cost, a private-well vs city-water ROI on your figures, and a project budget allocator with a cost-per-gallon normalizer. Sizing a softener is not a water test — test your well water with a certified lab; the ROI tool is illustrative math, not financial advice.

Planning estimate: this is a planning estimate from the numbers you enter and standard reference quantities — not a bid or a contract. Get itemized written quotes from licensed contractors and confirm measurements before you commit.
Test your water: Sizing a softener, filter or UV unit is not a substitute for a water test. Test your well water with a certified laboratory before choosing treatment; this tool does not tell you whether your water is safe to drink.
Illustrative math, not advice: This is illustrative math on the figures you enter — not financial advice. Drilling cost, water rates, well life and your usage vary; talk to a qualified professional. Savings are never guaranteed.
Water Softener SizingSize a water softener from your water hardness in grains per gallon and daily gallons used: get grains per day and the regeneration interval. Not a water test.Softener Salt Usage & CostEstimate water-softener salt use and cost from pounds per regeneration, cycles and the price per pound you pay. Uses your own numbers, no price list.Treatment System CostAdd up whole-house water treatment cost: filter, UV and labor line items you enter. A planning estimate from your quotes; choose treatment from a lab test.Well-Water Test CostEstimate well-water testing cost from the number of lab panels and the price each. A certified-lab test is the only way to know your water is safe to drink.Well vs City Water ROICompare private well vs city water cost: amortize your well over its life and weigh it against your monthly bill. Illustrative math, not financial advice.Budget Allocator & Cost per GallonSplit a well or septic budget across drilling, pump, trenching, treatment and more, and get cost per gallon of capacity. Adjustable typical planning splits.

From water test to monthly cost

Treatment decisions start with a lab number, not a product. A certified test (well water test cost, testing basics) gives hardness in gpg or ppm (ppm ÷ 17.1 = gpg — the hardness scale translates), and hardness × daily gallons is the grains-per-day figure that sizes a softener — household or light-commercial — in the softener sizing tool. From there, salt usage & cost answers what a softener costs to run per month, and treatment cost adds filtration or UV. The method is in softener sizing explained.

The money questions close the loop: well vs city water amortizes a well against a utility bill (and the switch-over math — tap fee, trenched line, well decommissioning — is in the well-vs-city guide), while the budget allocator splits a project total across drilling, pump, treatment and contingency so no line gets forgotten.

Every Water Treatment, Budget & ROI tool is calculated server-side — visible immediately — with its formula, a worked example and a reference table, and works on the prices you enter. Background reading is in the guides.