Well water in South Carolina

Name: Private well water quality in South Carolina
Creator: Well Water Nerd
License: Public domain (US federal government data)

1in10

Testing recommended

tested well samples in South Carolina exceeded the EPA limit for fluoride (4 mg/L), based on public data from USGS Water Quality Portal.

17,262 test results across 15 contaminants from at least 1,279 wells, 1908 to 2026; chloride has the most at 2,892. Data refreshed September 15, 2026.

Compiled by Nick at Well Water Nerd from public records. How these pages are built

An estimated 1,182,721 people in South Carolina get their drinking water from a private well, per USGS 2015 county water use.

Separately, the USGS national arsenic model estimates that 2% of the 1,182,721 people on private wells in South Carolina draw water above 10 ug/L (the model's range is 2% to 4%), from geology and well depth rather than local tests.

What individual samples found

Each row summarizes every public sample for that contaminant inside South Carolina. Above limit means above the EPA maximum contaminant level; where EPA has no enforceable limit, the row shows a health guideline or nuisance level instead.

Contaminant	Above limit	Samples	Detected	Median	Highest	Limit
Fluoride 1941 to 2019	10%	2,266	79%	0.2	10.9	4 mg/L EPA limit
Nitrate 1945 to 2026	8%	2,371	66%	0.1	150	10 mg/L EPA limit
Radium (226 + 228) 2002 to 2019	4%	361	76%	0.25	13.2	5 pCi/L EPA limit
Lead 1973 to 2019	1%	846	32%	0	600	15 ug/L EPA limit
E. coli 1997 to 2019	1%	75	1%	0	8	0 MPN/100mL EPA limit
Arsenic 1978 to 2019	<1%	608	27%	0	12	10 ug/L EPA limit
Copper 1954 to 2019	0%	1,007	49%	0	0.325	1.3 mg/L EPA limit
Uranium 1988 to 2019	0%	431	42%	0	16	30 ug/L EPA limit
Chloride 1908 to 2019	no limit	2,892	100%	9.79	14,600	250 mg/L nuisance level
Iron 1945 to 2019	no limit	2,309	80%	23.2	115,000	300 ug/L nuisance level
Sodium 1945 to 2019	no limit	2,070	100%	13.1	8,300	20 mg/L health guideline
Manganese 1945 to 2019	no limit	1,874	71%	3.21	4,700	300 ug/L health guideline
Radon 1997 to 2019	no limit	142	94%	260	14,100	2,000 pCi/L health guideline

Sampled fewer than 10 times, too few to summarize: PFOA (5), PFOS (5).

Over time

Share of samples above the limit by period. A cell needs ten samples to show; a comparison needs twenty in each period. Later periods sample fewer wells, and often the ones already known to have a problem.

Contaminant	before 2000	2000s	2010s	2020s
Nitrate	7%1,618 samples	10%513 samples	11%238 samples	n/a
Fluoride	10%1,836 samples	9%310 samples	3%120 samples	n/a
Copper	0%757 samples	0%128 samples	0%122 samples	n/a
Lead	<1%596 samples	4%128 samples	2%122 samples	n/a
Arsenic	0%361 samples	0%128 samples	<1%119 samples	n/a
Uranium	0%181 samples	0%128 samples	0%122 samples	n/a

Fluoride above the limit in South Carolina fell from 9% of 310 samples in the 2000s to 3% of 120 in the 2010s.

Nitrate, copper, lead, arsenic, uranium have held within a few points between the two most recent periods with enough samples.

What this means

The contaminants most often above their limit here are fluoride (10% of 2,266 samples), nitrate (8% of 2,371 samples), and radium (226 + 228) (4% of 361 samples). A well next door can differ sharply from yours because bedrock fractures, well depth and plumbing all matter, so these rates describe the area, not your tap.

Chloride, Iron, and Manganese are widespread in local groundwater. They are mainly a staining and taste problem, but high manganese also carries a health advisory for infants.

What to test for in South Carolina

1
Fluoride
10% of 2,266 local samples were above the limit.
2
Nitrate
8% of 2,371 local samples were above the limit.
3
Radium (226 + 228)
4% of 361 local samples were above the limit.
4
Lead
1% of 846 local samples were above the limit.
5
E. coli
1% of 75 local samples were above the limit.
6
Arsenic
<1% of 608 local samples were above the limit.
7
Radon
Median local reading is 260 pCi/L.

Test your South Carolina well for fluoride, nitrate and radium (226 + 228)

Certified lab analysis of your own tap water, bottles and prepaid return shipping included. The Essential well panel covers arsenic, uranium, nitrate, lead, copper, manganese, iron, sodium and bacteria; radon and PFAS are add-ons.

Order the Tap Score well water test kit, from $209 Already tested? Upload the report

Just want bacteria checked first? Tap Score coliform and E. coli test, $99. Coliform and E. coli are the tests every well needs every year.

Want a quick look before paying for a lab? Home well water test strips on Amazon check hardness, iron, pH and nitrate in minutes. They are a screen, not a result: arsenic, bacteria, uranium and PFAS need a certified lab.

Affiliate links: the merchant pays us a commission and the price is the same for you. It does not change what the data above says. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Where to get a well tested in South Carolina: certified labs, state programs and prices.

Already have results back? Get your lab report read against the South Carolina numbers, $29. Every line explained, ranked by what matters, with the fix for each.

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Send me the South Carolina report

The numbers above, which tests to order and where, and the treatment that fits the local profile, in one email.

The rock under South Carolina

Southeastern Coastal Plain aquifer system

Semiconsolidated sand. Coastal plain sands like these give steady yields at moderate depth. Salt water and sodium are the usual issues near the coast, and nitrate where the water table is shallow; arsenic and radon from bedrock are less common.

Classification from the USGS Principal Aquifers of the United States (national map, 2003 edition, GIS release 2015), read at the state centroid. A single well can sit in a different unit, especially near a boundary.

Official help in South Carolina

Two places to start that are not selling anything: the state program that answers private well questions, and its list of labs certified to run drinking water tests. A certified lab is the difference between a result you can act on and a number.

Private Drinking Water Wells, SCDES
Environmental Laboratory Certification, SCDES

Treatment that fits the local profile

Fluoride

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Activated alumina; Distillation

Nitrate

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Anion exchange; Distillation

Radium (226 + 228)

Water softener (cation exchange); Point-of-use reverse osmosis

Lead

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Certified lead-removal carbon filter; Neutralizing filter to raise pH and stop leaching

E. coli

Shock chlorination and fix the well cap or casing; UV disinfection whole-house; Chlorination system

Systems we would look at first

Some links below are affiliate links. If you buy through one, the merchant pays us a commission at no extra cost to you. It does not change which products we list or what the data says.

For fluoride

Under-sink reverse osmosis system

under-sink or countertop, about $300

Look for NSF/ANSI 58 certification listing the contaminant you need removed.

For fluoride

Aquasana SmartFlow reverse osmosis

under-sink or countertop, about $225

Certified to NSF/ANSI 58 and 53 to reduce arsenic (96%, pentavalent), fluoride (90%), lead (99%), nitrate, nitrite and PFOA/PFOS at the kitchen tap, with a remineralizer.

For lead

Aquasana Claryum 3-Stage under-sink filter

under-sink or countertop, about $175

Certified to NSF/ANSI 53 to reduce 99% of lead and 99.7% of PFOA and PFOS at the tap. Not a fix for arsenic, nitrate or bacteria.

For lead

Acid neutralizing filter

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $1,200

Raises pH so plumbing stops leaching lead and copper.

For E. coli

UV disinfection system

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $900

Fix the well cap and casing first; UV keeps bacteria from returning.

For E. coli

Aquasana Rhino Well Water with UV

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $2,871

Whole-house system built for wells: sediment pre-filter, KDF and carbon, and a UV lamp rated to kill 99.99% of bacteria and viruses. It does not remove arsenic, nitrate, uranium or radon.

Common questions

Is there arsenic in well water in South Carolina?

Arsenic was detected in 27% of 608 public well samples in South Carolina, and <1% were above the EPA limit of 10 ug/L. Arsenic has no taste or smell; a lab test is the only way to know your level.

How high is radon in well water in South Carolina?

The median radon level across 142 public samples in South Carolina was 260 pCi/L, with a high of 14,100 pCi/L. New Hampshire recommends treatment above 2,000 pCi/L.

How often should I test a private well in South Carolina?

Test for bacteria and nitrate every year. Test once for arsenic, uranium, radon, fluoride, manganese and PFAS, then again every three to five years or after any change in taste, color, or plumbing.

Counties in South Carolina

Want the numbers themselves? Download the South Carolina dataset as CSV, every county and town, with the sources named.

Sources

USGS Water Quality Portal: 17,262 samples in South Carolina. Data from the Water Quality Portal, a service of USGS, EPA and USDA; groundwater samples collected by USGS and cooperators. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
USGS national arsenic model (Ayotte 2017): estimated share of 1,182,721 people on private wells in South Carolina above 10 ug/L of arsenic, from geology, well depth and land use. County estimates of domestic well users with arsenic above 10 ug/L from the USGS national logistic regression model (Ayotte, Medalie and Qi, 2017), with private well population from the USGS 2015 county water-use compilation (Dieter and others, 2018). Retrieved September 15, 2026.

Non-detects count as samples and are treated as zero when computing medians. Exactly at the limit counts as not above it. A sample belongs to the town containing the well's reported coordinates.