Albany Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Albany, Oregon, the Linn County seat on the Willamette River at the Calapooia River confluence — known for the 'Rare Metals Capital of the World' (Albany is the primary US production center for rare metals including zirconium, hafnium, and titanium), home of Linn-Benton Community College, and a major Willamette Valley agricultural and manufacturing hub — draws its municipal water supply from the South Santiam River via the City of Albany Public Works Water Division. Water hardness in Albany measures 55 mg/L — classified as moderately soft.

Albany's moderate softness reflects the South Santiam River's Cascade Range volcanic watershed. The South Santiam River above Albany drains: the Oregon High Cascades (Quaternary basalt flows and Late Quaternary rhyolite and andesite of the Oregon Cascade volcanic arc — the South Santiam Pass and Santiam Junction volcanic terrain, predominantly mafic-intermediate composition, calcium-poor basalt and andesite); the Western Cascades (Eocene–Miocene calcareous-poor andesite, basalt, and tuff of the Oregon Western Cascades — the older Cascade volcanic series, calcium-poor intermediate volcanic rock); and Foster Reservoir (the South Santiam reservoir at Sweet Home — a large Corps of Engineers reservoir diluting and moderating the Cascade snowmelt). The calcium-poor Cascade volcanic terrain produces the moderately soft 55 mg/L at Albany.

With hardness at 55 mg/L, Albany residents enjoy moderately soft water with minimal scale challenges. City of Albany Public Works Water Division consistently delivers water meeting all Oregon DEQ and EPA Safe Drinking Water Act requirements.