TapMatch

Columbus, Ohio

Columbus Division of Water. The city softens on purpose to about 120 ppm / 7 gpg. Chlorine residual.

Cited chemistry for ColumbusA chart of numbers printed on the utility report, each labeled with its unit. Missing numbers are left off.Hardnessabout 120 ppm / 7 gpgChlorinetotal chlorine residualWQR
Cited numbers from the utility report. Length follows the printed value against a labeled scale — not a health ranking. If the report has no number, it is not on the chart.
  1. Hardnessabout 120 ppm / 7 gpg
  2. Chlorinetotal chlorine residual

On the report

Water utility
City of Columbus — Columbus Water & Power, Division of Water
Hardness
City hardness page: softened on average to 120 ppm, about 7 grains per gallon. They call that moderately hard. Confirm the year’s CCR table. — City of Columbus Water Hardness page
Disinfectant
Treatment narrative and CCR tables use chlorine / total chlorine as the residual disinfectant (not a chloramine story we would invent). — Columbus Consumer Confidence Reports
Brine / salt to the sewer
No district prohibition found in current research. No Columbus sewer ban like Measure S turned up. Ask the wastewater utility before you cut a brine line.

Also around here

Extra context besides the utility report and the chart above — geology, an unregulated table, or a published study. Not a second set of printed tap numbers.

What actually fits

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If soap will not lather and the glassware looks chalky

Two tall mineral tanks and a black brine tank of a salt-based water softener, plumbed with copper pipe in a garage.
Salt-based softener: two mineral tanks and a brine tank.

A salt-based softener is the thing that actually removes hardness. Size it from your grains and how much water you use, not bathroom count. It needs a drain.

Shop salt-based softeners

If you only want less scale and you hate salt bags

A single tall tank with no brine tank, installed in a laundry alcove next to a washing machine.
Salt-free conditioner: one tank, no salt bin.

A salt-free conditioner changes how scale sticks. It does not soften. Soap and spots stay closer to untreated. No brine line.

Shop salt-free conditioners

If the shower just smells like the pool

A single black whole-house carbon tank with a control head, installed in a garage and connected to copper pipe.
Whole-house carbon tank. No brine tank.

That is chlorine. A whole-house carbon filter with an NSF/ANSI 42 chlorine claim is the usual match. A softener will not take chlorine out.

Shop whole-house carbon

If you are shopping a PFAS listing for the kitchen

Under-sink reverse osmosis system with a white storage tank, filter canisters, and colored tubing in a kitchen cabinet.
Under-sink reverse osmosis: filters, tank, and a second faucet.

The under-sink RO we actually run is Cloud RO — NSF/ANSI 58, kitchen tap, not a whole-house tank. Check the exact listing if PFAS is why you are shopping. Waterdrop is a tankless option if you want that path. A certifier-listed pitcher is the cheap first step. Nobody is paying for a medical claim.

Shop Cloud ROShop Waterdrop reverse osmosisShop PFAS-listed pitchers

If you have not tested the tap

A homeowner kit is a start. It is not a state-certified lab. Use a certified lab when the decision is expensive.

Shop water test kits

Sources

  1. Water Hardness — City of Columbus. Accessed 2026-08-31.
  2. Water publications (CCR) — City of Columbus. Accessed 2026-08-31.

Updated August 31, 2026. A city file is chemistry we can cite plus the sewer rule. No invented detections.