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County water report

Pickens County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for Pickens County, South Carolina.

Water grade

B

Water score

63.0

State rank

#29

of 46

Health violations

6

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

0.0%

2 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

17

5,574 recent measurements

Live streamflow

20%

SALUDA RIVER NEAR GREENVILLE, SC

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Pickens County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

B

Score: 63.0 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

6

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

0% impaired

2 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

20% of mean

SALUDA RIVER NEAR GREENVILLE, SC

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

17

5,574 recent readings

Source: EPA SDWIS · Safe Drinking Water Information System

Drinking Water Compliance

Compliance grade

B

Based on EPA SDWIS compliance history.

Water score

Higher scores indicate cleaner recent compliance records.

63.0/100

Health violations

6

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

4.7

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Editorial analysis

Understanding Pickens County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Pickens County earns a B grade for drinking water quality, scoring 63.0 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 6 health-based violations — a pattern that public water utilities are required to disclose and correct.

Watershed Conditions

EPA ATTAINS

Under the Clean Water Act §303(d), EPA ATTAINS tracks whether waterways meet quality standards for drinking, recreation, and aquatic life (reporting cycle: 2022). None of the assessed waterways are listed as impaired (0 of 2 water bodies) across Pickens County's watersheds. Impairment does not mean tap water is unsafe — it measures ambient waterway conditions upstream of treatment, not finished drinking water.

River & Streamflow Status

USGS NWIS

USGS NWIS gauge data (as of 2026-05-14T14:45:00.000-04:00) puts SALUDA RIVER at 124.0 cfs — well below its long-term average at 20% of mean — low-flow conditions worth noting for water-dependent ecosystems. Streamflow is a leading indicator of drought stress, sediment load, and dilution capacity: low flows concentrate pollutants and warm water temperatures, stressing aquatic life and, in surface-water-dependent systems, the source water quality for treatment plants.

Monitoring Network

EPA WQP

EPA's Water Quality Portal (WQP) aggregates monitoring data from federal, state, and tribal agencies. Pickens County has moderate coverage with 17 active monitoring sites with 5,574 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include physical and nutrient. More monitoring sites generally indicate greater scientific attention to local water conditions — and provide the baseline data that regulators use to set future impairment listings.

Editorial advisory

What the data suggests for Pickens County

Water Verdict

Pickens County, South Carolina receives a fair water quality assessment with a grade of B and a score of 63.0 out of 100. The water supply meets baseline federal standards, but there may be periods of elevated contaminant levels or infrastructure concerns worth monitoring. Separately, EPA ATTAINS assessments track 2 water bodies in the county's watershed, none of which are currently listed as impaired under the Clean Water Act. At the most recent USGS reading, local streamflow was below its historical mean at 20.2% — worth watching in drier seasons.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for Pickens County, South Carolina show 6 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 4.7 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is moderate and suggests recurring water quality challenges. For independent context, 5,574 water-quality monitoring results have been recorded across the county in the EPA Water Quality Portal over the past five years.

Consumer Guidance

Tap water in Pickens County meets baseline safety standards, though the compliance record shows some violations worth watching. Pickens County's drinking-water compliance score is 63.0 out of 100. The violation rate for Pickens County is 4.7 per 100,000 people served. Running tap water for 30 seconds before drinking can reduce any localized lead exposure from household plumbing. Requesting your utility's most recent Consumer Confidence Report is the fastest way to identify which specific contaminants were flagged. With 17 active water-quality monitoring sites in Pickens County, data coverage is strong. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the SALUDA RIVER gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Pickens County has water quality close to the average county in South Carolina. Its water score is within 1.9 points of the state average, meaning its overall water system performance is broadly representative of South Carolina as a whole.

Advisory text summarizes county-level public records and is not a replacement for your utility's current Consumer Confidence Report or direct local notices.

Contaminants & Resources

Key issues flagged in Pickens County's water environment

Official EPA Resources for Pickens County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Pickens County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Pickens County

Consumer Confidence Reports (SC)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in South Carolina

Clean Water Act §303(d)

Watershed Health

Impaired Water Bodies

0.0%

0 of 2 assessed

Mostly healthy

Top Impairment Causes

No specific impairment causes reported for the assessed water bodies in this county.

Source: EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycle 2022

Impairment is determined under the Clean Water Act §303(d): a water body is impaired when it fails to meet state-defined quality standards for designated uses (drinking, recreation, aquatic life). Assessment coverage varies by state; counties without assessed water bodies are not shown.

Past 5 years

Water Quality Monitoring

Monitoring Sites

17

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

5.6K

5,574 total readings

Most Measured

  • Physical
  • Nutrient
  • Inorganics, Minor, Metals

Categories measured most frequently

Data from the EPA Water Quality Portal (WQP), aggregating monitoring records from federal, state, and tribal sources. Each measurement represents a single sample analyzed for a specific characteristic (e.g., E. coli, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrogen).

Live USGS Streamgage

River & Stream Conditions

Current Discharge

124cfs

May 14, 6:45 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

20%

Well below typical

Primary Streamgage

SALUDA RIVER NEAR GREENVILLE, SC

USGS site
02162500
Drainage area
298 sq mi
Long-term mean
614 cfs

One representative streamgage (the one with the largest drainage area in the county). Many counties have multiple gauges; this view summarizes the primary one. The long-term mean is the full-record annual average; the percent-of-typical value compares the latest reading against that average.

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Water Cost Estimate

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Annual Total

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Monthly

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Water Bill

$558/yr

Filter Cost

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Safety Grade for Pickens County:C — Moderate

Some violations or watershed impairment detected.

Estimates use the national average residential water rate ($0.0068/gal, EPA/AWWA 2023) and EPA WaterSense per-person consumption baseline (75 gal/person/day). Actual bills vary by utility, usage tier, and local infrastructure fees. For informational purposes only.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the water quality in Pickens County, South Carolina?
Pickens County, South Carolina has a drinking-water quality grade of B with a score of 63.0/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 6 health-based drinking water violations over the past 5 years. Watershed health, monitoring records, and streamflow snapshots are reported separately on this page.
Are there any water violations in Pickens County?
Pickens County has 6 health-based drinking water violations recorded by the EPA over the past 5 years. Health-based violations indicate instances where contaminant levels exceeded EPA Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs). Violations may have been resolved — check with your local water utility for current status.
How healthy are the watersheds in Pickens County?
EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 0.0% of Pickens County's 2 assessed water bodies are classified as impaired (0 impaired). Impairment means the water body fails to meet state quality standards for at least one designated use — drinking water source, recreation, aquatic life, or fish consumption. Note: watershed impairment doesn't always translate to tap-water issues; treatment plants can remove most regulated contaminants.
How much water-quality monitoring happens in Pickens County?
EPA's Water Quality Portal records 5,574 measurements from 17 monitoring sites in Pickens County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Physical, Nutrient, Inorganics, Minor, Metals. Each measurement is a single sample analyzed for one characteristic (E. coli, pH, dissolved oxygen, etc.). High monitoring density means more scientific evidence behind any reported signal — it does not by itself indicate water quality.
What's happening with rivers in Pickens County right now?
Pickens County's primary USGS streamgage on the SALUDA RIVER has a pipeline snapshot of 124 cubic feet per second — 20% of the long-term mean of 614.05 cfs. This is well below typical — often a signal of drought stress on source water. For the latest gauge feed, visit waterdata.usgs.gov.
How does Pickens County water compare to the South Carolina average?
Pickens County's SDWIS water quality score of 63.0/100 is lower than the South Carolina state average of 64.9. The average water quality grade across South Carolina is C, based on data from 46 counties with available SDWIS data.
Is tap water safe to drink in Pickens County?
Based on EPA SDWIS data, Pickens County has a water quality grade of B (63.0/100). This indicates good to excellent water quality with strong SDWIS compliance. The grade speaks to the public water system, not the watershed — for watershed-level concerns, see the Watershed Health zone. For the most up-to-date information, contact your local water utility or review your Consumer Confidence Report (CCR).
Why does Pickens County have so many water violations?
Pickens County has 6 health-based drinking water violations on record from the EPA SDWIS database. A higher violation count can result from aging infrastructure, underfunded water utilities, agricultural runoff contamination, or industrial pollution. Counties with more water systems may also see more violations simply due to scale. Residents concerned about water quality should consider independent water testing and home filtration systems.
How does Pickens County rank for water quality in South Carolina?
Pickens County ranks #29 out of 46 counties in South Carolina by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 63.0/100, it falls in the middle third of counties statewide. The ranking reflects EPA SDWIS compliance only — not watershed impairment, monitoring density, or streamflow, which are tracked separately on this page.

Counties with Similar Water Quality

Charleston County

South Carolina

B

63.2

Water score

Dorchester County

South Carolina

B

62.3

Water score

Newberry County

South Carolina

B

63.8

Water score

Data Sources

Drinking-water compliance data from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) via the ECHO enforcement database. Scores reflect compliance history and health-based violation counts.

Watershed health and impaired-waterway data from the EPA ATTAINS Clean Water Act §303(d) assessments, state-reported and EPA-finalized.

Water-quality monitoring counts from the EPA Water Quality Portal (WQP), federated USGS, EPA, and state agency sampling records over a rolling 5-year window.

Live streamflow from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS), continuous discharge measurements from the largest-drainage gauge in each county, compared against the full-record long-term annual mean.

Disclaimer: This data is informational only. It is not health, legal, or professional advice. For concerns about your specific water supply, contact your local water utility.

By Evan Brooks, Data EditorUpdated Reviewed by Evan Brooks, Data Editor

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