Well water in Orangeburg County, South Carolina

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

1in3

Testing strongly recommended

tested well samples in Orangeburg County exceeded the EPA limit for nitrate (10 mg/L), based on public data from USGS Water Quality Portal.

1,356 test results across 13 contaminants from at least 79 wells, 1946 to 2018; nitrate has the most at 336. Data refreshed September 15, 2026.

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

An estimated 20,531 people in Orangeburg County get their drinking water from a private well, per USGS 2015 county water use. That is about 23% of residents.

Separately, the USGS national arsenic model estimates that 2% of the 20,531 people on private wells in Orangeburg County draw water above 10 ug/L (the model's range is 1% to 3%), from geology and well depth rather than local tests.

What individual samples found

Each row summarizes every public sample for that contaminant inside Orangeburg County. 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
Nitrate 1946 to 2018	32%	336	90%	3.97	96.2	10 mg/L EPA limit
Lead 1981 to 2018	6%	33	64%	0.082	18.9	15 ug/L EPA limit
Radium (226 + 228) 2002 to 2018	4%	28	75%	0.17	9.2	5 pCi/L EPA limit
Fluoride 1946 to 2018	0%	168	47%	0	0.93	4 mg/L EPA limit
Copper 1981 to 2018	0%	33	52%	0	0.243	1.3 mg/L EPA limit
Uranium 1997 to 2018	0%	31	42%	0	1.09	30 ug/L EPA limit
Arsenic 1997 to 2018	0%	31	52%	0.06	0.85	10 ug/L EPA limit
Chloride 1946 to 2018	no limit	179	100%	7	215	250 mg/L nuisance level
Iron 1946 to 2018	no limit	179	63%	20.3	6,300	300 ug/L nuisance level
Sodium 1953 to 2018	no limit	172	100%	4.33	65	20 mg/L health guideline
Manganese 1953 to 2018	no limit	157	83%	16.5	145	300 ug/L health guideline

Sampled fewer than 10 times, too few to summarize: E. coli (3), Radon (6).

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	30%220 samples	35%92 samples	38%24 samples	n/a
Fluoride	0%126 samples	0%30 samples	0%12 samples	n/a
Radium (226 + 228)	n/a	0%10 samples	6%18 samples	n/a
Lead	n/a	14%14 samples	0%12 samples	n/a
Copper	n/a	0%14 samples	0%12 samples	n/a
Uranium	n/a	0%14 samples	0%12 samples	n/a

Nitrate, fluoride have held within a few points between the two most recent periods with enough samples.

Closer than the county

See the sampled wells near your address

The same records, drawn around one point: which wells within a few miles were sampled and what they found, how deep the wells next to you were drilled, and any leaking tank or cleanup site within a mile.

Check my address

What this means

The contaminants most often above their limit here are nitrate (32% of 336 samples), lead (6% of 33 samples), and radium (226 + 228) (4% of 28 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 Orangeburg County

1
Nitrate
32% of 336 local samples were above the limit.
2
Lead
6% of 33 local samples were above the limit.
3
Radium (226 + 228)
4% of 28 local samples were above the limit.
4
Coliform bacteria
Recommended for every private well, every year.
5
Radon
Median local reading is 190 pCi/L.
6
Chloride
Detected in 100% of local samples.
7
Manganese
Detected in 83% of local samples.

Test your Orangeburg County well for nitrate, lead 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 Orangeburg County numbers, $29. Every line explained, ranked by what matters, with the fix for each.

The rock under Orangeburg County

Surficial aquifer system

Unconsolidated sand and gravel. Wells in sand and gravel are usually shallow and productive, and they recharge quickly from the surface. That makes them the most exposed to nitrate, bacteria and anything spilled nearby, and the least likely to carry arsenic or radon from the rock.

Classification from the USGS Principal Aquifers of the United States (national map, 2003 edition, GIS release 2015), read at the county 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

Nitrate

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

Lead

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

Radium (226 + 228)

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

Manganese

Oxidizing filter (greensand, birm) whole-house; Water softener (low levels); Point-of-use reverse osmosis

Iron

Oxidizing filter whole-house; Water softener (low levels); Aeration plus filtration

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 nitrate

Under-sink reverse osmosis system

under-sink or countertop, about $300

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

For nitrate

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 iron

Iron and manganese oxidizing filter

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $1,800

Air-injection or greensand media; fixes staining at the source.

Free, no obligation

Get on the list for a free in-home water test in Orangeburg County

No water treatment company serves Orangeburg County through Well Water Nerd yet. We are signing licensed companies on county by county: they test at your tap for free, walk you through the numbers, and quote treatment only if something needs fixing. Leave your details and you are first in line. Nothing is shared until a company joins for Orangeburg County, and you get an email naming it first.

Common questions

Is there arsenic in well water in Orangeburg County?

Arsenic was detected in 52% of 31 public well samples in Orangeburg County, and 0% 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 often should I test a private well in Orangeburg County?

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 near Orangeburg County

Closest first. Groundwater does not stop at a line on a map, so the next county over is a fair second opinion.

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

Sources

USGS Water Quality Portal: 1,356 samples in Orangeburg County. 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 20,531 people on private wells in Orangeburg County 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.