Phenix City Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Phenix City, Alabama, the Russell County seat — a major east Alabama city directly across the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, Georgia (one of the most closely paired twin cities on the Alabama–Georgia border), a historically significant community (Phenix City was the site of a major organized crime and corruption scandal in the early 1950s — 'Sin City of Alabama,' which led to the assassination of a political candidate and a state takeover, dramatized in the 1955 film 'The Phenix City Story'), home of several Fort Moore (Fort Benning) support communities, and a diverse Russell County community — draws its municipal water supply from the Chattahoochee River via the Phenix City Water Works. Water hardness in Phenix City measures 119 mg/L — classified as moderately hard.

Phenix City's moderate hardness reflects the Chattahoochee River Alabama–Georgia Piedmont watershed's calcareous-moderate geology. The Chattahoochee River at Phenix City–Russell County drains: the Georgia and Alabama Piedmont (Precambrian calcareous-moderate gneiss and amphibolite of the central Georgia and Alabama Piedmont — the Pine Mountain Belt and Inner Piedmont Belt); the Uchee Belt calcareous schist (calcareous-moderate Paleozoic metasediment); and the Brevard Zone calcareous mylonite. Phenix City Water Works treatment produces the moderate 119 mg/L.

At 119 mg/L, Phenix City residents encounter moderate scale accumulation. Monthly cleaning with citric acid solution is recommended. Phenix City Water Works consistently delivers water meeting all Alabama ADEM and EPA Safe Drinking Water Act requirements.