Alabama water hardness, by utility.

238 Alabama utilities serving 5.4 million people as they report it, from the state’s own results. Hardness is the calcium and magnesium in water; EPA sets no limit for it.

The short answer

Moderately hard water reaches the most people here: 64 utilities serving 2.4 million.

The largest, Central Alabama Water, is moderately hard, 110 mg/L (6.4 grains per gallon).

Very hard

Above 180 mg/L (10.5 grains per gallon). 14 utilities serving 198,507 people, largest first.

Alabama utilities: very hard water
Utility	Based in	Serves	Hardness, mg/L	Grains per gallon
City of Alabaster Water Department	Alabaster	40,986	195	11.4
City of Pelham	Pelham	38,703	181	10.6
City of Calera, the Wwb of Te	Calera	26,982	206	12
City of Pell City	Pell City	17,586	194	11.3
Owens Crossroads Water Authority	Owens Cross Roads	13,569	194	11.3
Montevallo Water Works & Sewer Board	Montevallo	10,746	288	16.8
Irondale Water System	Irondale	10,098	185	10.8
Childersburg Water & Sewer Board	Childersburg	9,777	215	12.6
City of Weaver	Weaver	7,050	188	11
Glencoe Water Works Board	Glencoe	6,465	187	10.9
Cook Springs Water Authority	Pell City	4,569	181	10.6
City of Ashville	Ashville	4,107	184	10.8
Hawk Pride MT Water System	Tuscumbia	4,035	219	12.8
Florala Water Works & Sewer Board	Florala	3,834	204	11.9

Hard

121 to 180 mg/L (7.1 to 10.5 grains per gallon). 47 utilities serving 790,503 people; the 25 largest are here.

Alabama utilities: hard water
Utility	Based in	Serves	Hardness, mg/L	Grains per gallon
Madison County Water Department	Huntsville	119,100	122	7.1
Limestone County Water & Sewer Auth.	Athens	90,900	123	7.2
Northeast Alabama Water Sewer and Fpd	Fort Payne	47,070	123	7.2
City of Trussville, Ub of the	Trussville	36,300	159	9.3
Oxford Water Works & Sewer Board	Oxford	31,239	142	8.3
Chilton Water Authority	Thorsby	27,681	148	8.7
Town of Odenville, Utillities Bd. of the	Odenville	26,022	121	7.1
City of Fort Payne, the Ww Bd of the	Fort Payne	25,107	128	7.5
City of Helena, the Ub of the	Helena	21,300	168	9.8
Leeds Water Works Board	Leeds	21,300	176	10.3
City of Talladega Water & Sewer Dept	Talladega	20,250	178	10.4
City of Oneonta, Ub of the	Oneonta	19,971	134	7.8
Douglas Water Authority	Douglas	19,179	139	8.1
Blount County Water Authority	Cleveland	19,074	133	7.7
Russellville Water Works and Sewer Board	Russellville	17,100	124	7.2
Tuscumbia Water Works	Tuscumbia	16,539	144	8.4
Citizens Water Service, Inc.	Brookwood	15,096	136	8
Loachapoka Water Authority	Loachapoka	14,964	122	7.1
City of Lincoln	Lincoln	13,923	171	10
Town of Columbiana, the Ww Board of the	Columbiana	12,903	155	9
Southside Water Works and Sewer Board	Southside	12,327	144	8.4
Cherokee County Water & Sewer Authority	Piedmont	11,013	122	7.1
Opp Utilities Board	Opp	10,266	139	8.1
City of Geneva, the Ww & Sb of the	Geneva	9,600	130	7.6
Green Pond Water System	Green Pond	8,631	167	9.7

All 47 with hard water

Moderately hard

61 to 120 mg/L (3.6 to 7 grains per gallon). 64 utilities serving 2.4 million people; the 25 largest are here.

Alabama utilities: moderately hard water
Utility	Based in	Serves	Hardness, mg/L	Grains per gallon
Central Alabama Water	Birmingham	653,322	110	6.4
Huntsville Utilities Water Dept.	Huntsville	310,107	84	4.9
City of Montgomery, the Ww&Ssb of the	Montgomery	276,000	88	5.1
City of Dothan Utilities	Dothan	97,146	118	6.9
City of Florence Water Department	Florence	77,766	81	4.7
Decatur, Municipal Ub of	Decatur	77,103	69	4
Anniston Alabama, the Wwsb of the City O	Anniston	56,865	99	5.8
City of Madison, the W & Ww Board of the	Madison	54,114	74	4.3
Harvest - Monrovia W,S, and Fp, Inc.	Harvest	51,915	117	6.8
City of Enterprise, the Wwb of the	Enterprise	48,000	119	7
US Army Garrison - Redstone Arsenal	Redstone Arsenal	44,472	72	4.2
Athens Utilities	Athens	43,431	115	6.7
Shelby County Commission - Water Services	Columbiana	40,101	82	4.8
City of Arab, Water Works Board of the	Arab	39,795	75	4.4
Warrior River Water Authority	Bessemer	38,700	120	7
Section & Dutton, Water Works Bd. of	Rainsville	35,259	71	4.2
Calhoun County Water Authority	Alexandria	32,796	119	7
Dekalb - Jackson Water Supply District	Ider	32,421	67	3.9
West Morgan - East Lawrence W&S Authority	Decatur	30,000	73	4.3
Muscle Shoals Utility Board	Muscle Shoals	22,467	72	4.2
Scottsboro Water Sewer & Gb	Scottsboro	22,200	92	5.4
City of Selma, the Ww and Sb of the	Selma	21,834	105	6.1
Fort Rucker - American Water Enterprises	Ft. Rucker	16,774	91	5.3
North Marshall Utilities	Grant	15,300	74	4.3
Jacksonville Water Works Gas and Sewer	Jacksonville	14,217	114	6.6

All 64 with moderately hard water

Soft

Up to 60 mg/L (3.5 grains per gallon). 113 utilities serving 2 million people; the 25 largest are here.

Alabama utilities: soft water
Utility	Based in	Serves	Hardness, mg/L	Grains per gallon
City of Mobile, Bd. of W&S Comm. of the	Mobile	279,000	40	2.3
Tuscaloosa Water & Sewer	Tuscaloosa	166,524	36	2.1
City of Auburn, the Ww Board of the	Auburn	74,292	48	2.8
City of Fairhope	Fairhope	59,850	31	1.8
City of Opelika, Ww Bd. of the	Opelika	56,520	23	1.3
City of Foley, Utilities Board of the	Foley	50,919	21	1.3
City of Prattville, the Ww Board of the	Prattville	46,614	19	1.1
Phenix City Utilities	Phenix City	44,712	22	1.3
City of Gadsden, the Wwsb of the	Gadsden	44,637	52	3
City of Gulf Shores, the Ub of the	Gulf Shores	40,947	25	1.4
City of Northport Water Works	Northport	40,551	41	2.4
Central Elmore Water & Sewer Authority	Wetumpka	39,798	11	0.7
Mobile County Water & Fire Pro Authority	Theodore	39,573	30	1.8
South Alabama Utilities Water System	Citronelle	39,249	4.8	0.3
City of Alexander City	Alexander City	34,005	28	1.6
Smiths Water & Sewer Authority	Smiths	33,555	39	2.3
City of Daphne, Utilities Board of the	Daphne	33,372	19	1.1
City of Albertville, Municipal Ub of the	Albertville	29,367	25	1.5
North Baldwin Utilities	Bay Minette	28,713	26	1.5
Jasper Water Works & Sewer Board	Jasper	28,638	55	3.2
Sylacauga Utilities Board	Sylacauga	24,087	13	0.7
City of Troy Utilities	Troy	23,523	43	2.5
Ozark Utilities Board	Ozark	19,965	15	0.9
Curry Water Authority	Jasper	18,060	22	1.3
Eufaula Water Works	Eufaula	17,970	1.8	0.1

All 113 with soft water

Source: Alabama Department of Environmental Management, Drinking Water Branch, 238 utilities, results from Jan. 12, 2015 to Sept. 21, 2026, read Oct. 17, 2026. Each sampling point is taken at its median; a figure is typical where every point falls in one band.

Bands are the U.S. Geological Survey’s, at 17.1 mg/L to the grain. People served is what each utility reports; where one sells water to another, the same people can be counted twice. How hardness is measured here.

Very hard

Hard

Moderately hard

Soft

Where to go next