Marion Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Marion, Indiana, the Grant County seat — a major north central Indiana city (Marion is the Grant County seat — a significant north central Indiana city in the Upper Wabash Valley corridor; Marion is one of Indiana's most historically significant industrial cities — a major gas and oil boom city of the late 19th century Indiana Natural Gas and Oil Belt (Marion was one of the centers of the Indiana natural gas boom of the 1880s–1890s that transformed north central Indiana into a glass and manufacturing powerhouse); Marion is perhaps most sobering known as the site of the last recorded public lynching in Indiana (August 7, 1930 — two young Black men, Thomas Shipp and Abner Smith, were lynched by a white mob in Marion's courthouse square; the photograph of the Marion lynching became one of the most famous and haunting images of American racial violence and helped inspire Abel Meeropol to write the song 'Strange Fruit,' made famous by Billie Holiday)), a diverse Grant County community with a significant African-American and working-class heritage population — draws its municipal water supply from the Mississinewa Reservoir via the City of Marion Water Division. Water hardness in Marion measures 158 mg/L — classified as hard.

Marion's hard supply reflects the north central Indiana Grant County dolomite bedrock's calcareous character. The Mississinewa Reservoir draws from the Silurian Niagaran Dolomite (calcareous). City of Marion applies limited softening, producing the hard 158 mg/L.

At 158 mg/L, Marion residents face regular hard water challenges. Monthly descaling and water softeners are recommended. City of Marion Water Division consistently delivers water meeting all Indiana DEM and EPA Safe Drinking Water Act requirements.