Searchlight's water: soft most of the time, hard from the backup well
Searchlight's water comes from three wells in Piute Valley, and they are very different. The two main wells are only moderately hard; the backup well is extremely hard.
How hard is Searchlight water?
Figures published by Searchlight Water System (Las Vegas Valley Water District). The dial setting is the number to enter on your softener.
| City or area | How hard | Range (grains per gallon) | Softener dial setting | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Searchlight, Well S-2 | Soft | about 3 | 3 | Searchlight Water System (Las Vegas Valley Water District), water quality summary, 2026 (2025 data) |
| Searchlight, Well S-3 | Moderately hard | about 6 | 6 | Searchlight Water System (Las Vegas Valley Water District), water quality summary, 2026 (2025 data) |
| Searchlight, backup Well S-1 | Extremely hard | about 23 | 23 | Searchlight Water System (Las Vegas Valley Water District), water quality summary, 2026 (2025 data) |
1. Who supplies your water?
2. How many people live in your home?
What the dial setting means
This is the number to key into your softener's control head (the box on top of the tank) where it asks for water hardness, often shown as "Hardness" or "gpg". It is how the softener knows how much hardness it is taking out of each gallon.
When the resin inside is full of minerals, the softener recharges: it washes the resin with brine from the salt tank and sends the minerals down the drain. For your household that works out to about every 14 days, and it happens automatically.
Too low a number lets hard water through between recharges. Too high a number makes it recharge sooner than it needs to, using extra salt and water.
Searchlight's hardness depends on which well is running. Source: Searchlight Water System (Las Vegas Valley Water District), water quality summary, 2026 (2025 data).
Nobody pays to be listed or ranked here, and we don't make, sell, rent or install softeners or filters.
How this figure was measured
Who published it
What the figure is
How we use it
Three wells, three waters
| Well S-2 (main) | Well S-3 (main) | Well S-1 (backup) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 53 ppm (3 gpg) | 97 ppm (6 gpg) | 401 ppm (23 gpg) |
| Calcium | 11 ppm | 18 ppm | 112 ppm |
| Magnesium | 6.26 ppm | 12.5 ppm | 29.4 ppm |
| Sodium | 71 ppm | 59 ppm | 52 ppm |
| Total dissolved solids | 269 ppm | 278 ppm | 633 ppm |
Averages from the Las Vegas Valley Water District’s 2026 summaries for the Searchlight system (2025 data). The wells are recharged by rain and snowmelt from the Lucy Gray range, the Castle Mountains and the McCullough Mountains.
If you fit a softener
On main-well water, the smallest standard softener, 24,000 grains, is plenty for any household and uses very little salt. Set it to 6 to cover the harder of the two main wells. A metered softener will simply recharge more often during the rare times the backup well is running.
The calculator default
The calculator on this page starts on Well S-2. Pick the well that matches your water, or enter your own test result.
Questions about Searchlight water
- How hard is Searchlight water?
- It depends on the well in use. The 2026 summaries give 53 ppm (3 gpg) for Well S-2, 97 ppm (6 gpg) for Well S-3, and 401 ppm (23 gpg) for backup Well S-1.
- Which well is my water from?
- Wells S-2 and S-3 are Searchlight's primary sources, and the three wells are typically not used at the same time. Well S-1 is a backup for maintenance or emergencies.
- Do I need a water softener in Searchlight?
- Usually not for hardness alone. On the main wells the water is soft to moderately hard. If you notice scale arriving suddenly, the backup well may be in use.