County water report

Spartanburg County Water Report

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

Water grade

Water score

71.5

State rank

#19

of 46

Health violations

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

0.0%

3 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

10,222 recent measurements

Live streamflow

25%

TYGER RIVER NEAR WOODRUFF, SC

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Spartanburg County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

Score: 71.5 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

0% impaired

3 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

25% of mean

TYGER RIVER NEAR WOODRUFF, SC

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

10,222 recent readings

Source: EPA SDWIS · Safe Drinking Water Information System

Drinking Water Compliance

Compliance grade

Based on EPA SDWIS compliance history.

Water score

Higher scores indicate cleaner recent compliance records.

71.5/100

Health violations

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

0.3

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Data center water stress

Spartanburg County has 1 facility in the DCWSI dataset.

ByCounty's DCWSI ranks this county #994 nationally by combining its water score with mapped data center density.

DCWSI

42.9

0-100 index

Facility count

0.0 density percentile

Discharge estimate

Not reported

EPA CWA fields where available

Water vs median

+21.5

Compared with US county median

Mapped facilities

VALARA HOLDINGS HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTE CENTER
SPARTANBURG
EPA ECHO

See the Spartanburg County data-center report Review methodology

Data Center Water Budget Calculator

Estimate daily water use for a hypothetical facility in Spartanburg County.

Facility size: 100 MW

1 MW1,000 MW

Cooling type

Utilization: 70%

40%100%

799K gallons/dayModerate Impact

Your facility would use 7.4% of this county's industrial water baseline — manageable but worth monitoring against drought trends.

7.4% of county industrial baseline10.06 Mgal/day remaining headroom

Based on USGS 2020 water-use data and EPA-standard cooling intensity constants. Not a substitute for site-specific water rights analysis.

Editorial analysis

Understanding Spartanburg County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Spartanburg County earns an A grade for drinking water quality, scoring 71.5 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 1 health-based violation — a single incident worth monitoring.

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 3 water bodies) across Spartanburg 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 2026-05-14T15:00:00.000-04:00) puts TYGER RIVER at 113.0 cfs — well below its long-term average at 25% 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. Spartanburg County has moderate coverage with 45 active monitoring sites with 10,222 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 Spartanburg County

Water Verdict

Spartanburg County, South Carolina receives a good water quality assessment with a grade of A and a score of 71.5 out of 100. While the water supply is generally safe, occasional monitoring gaps or minor contaminant detections may occur. Separately, EPA ATTAINS assessments track 3 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 24.5% — worth watching in drier seasons.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for Spartanburg County, South Carolina show 1 health-based violation, meaning a water system experienced at least one exceedance of federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements. At 0.3 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is relatively low compared to many U.S. counties. This compliance record sits alongside an unusually deep monitoring archive: 10,222 water-quality results have been logged across the county in the EPA Water Quality Portal over the past five years.

Consumer Guidance

Tap water in Spartanburg County earns a Grade A overall with a small number of isolated health violations in the recent record. Spartanburg County's drinking-water compliance score is 71.5 out of 100. The violation rate for Spartanburg County is 0.3 per 100,000 people served. These violations were likely resolved quickly; Grade A reflects a strong multi-year compliance trend. Reviewing the most recent Consumer Confidence Report will show exactly which systems were affected and what corrective action was taken. With 45 active water-quality monitoring sites in Spartanburg County, data coverage is strong. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the TYGER RIVER gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Spartanburg County has better water quality than the average county in South Carolina. Its water score is 6.6 points higher than the state average, indicating stronger water system performance relative to neighboring counties.

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 Spartanburg County's water environment

Official EPA Resources for Spartanburg County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Spartanburg County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Spartanburg 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 3 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

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

10K

10,222 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

113cfs

May 14, 7:00 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

25%

Well below typical

Primary Streamgage

TYGER RIVER NEAR WOODRUFF, SC

USGS site: 02159500
Drainage area: 351 sq mi
Long-term mean: 460 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.

Free tool

Estimate Your Water Costs

Water Cost Estimate

Household size

3 people · ~225 gal/day

Filter type

Annual Total

$558

Monthly

$47

Water Bill

$558/yr

Filter Cost

$0/yr

Safety Grade for Spartanburg 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 Spartanburg County, South Carolina?

Spartanburg County, South Carolina has a drinking-water quality grade of A with a score of 71.5/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 1 health-based drinking water violation over the past 5 years. Watershed health, monitoring records, and streamflow snapshots are reported separately on this page.

Are there any water violations in Spartanburg County?

Spartanburg County has 1 health-based drinking water violation 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 Spartanburg County?

EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 0.0% of Spartanburg County's 3 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 Spartanburg County?

EPA's Water Quality Portal records 10,222 measurements from 45 monitoring sites in Spartanburg 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 Spartanburg County right now?

Spartanburg County's primary USGS streamgage on the TYGER RIVER has a pipeline snapshot of 113 cubic feet per second — 25% of the long-term mean of 460.43 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 Spartanburg County water compare to the South Carolina average?

Spartanburg County's SDWIS water quality score of 71.5/100 is higher 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 Spartanburg County?

Based on EPA SDWIS data, Spartanburg County has a water quality grade of A (71.5/100). 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).

Does Spartanburg County have clean drinking water?

Spartanburg County has 1 health-based drinking water violation according to EPA records. With a water quality score of 71.5/100 and grade A, the county's drinking water has had some compliance issues but continues to be monitored. Note: drinking-water compliance speaks to the public water system, not necessarily to the watershed itself — check the Watershed Health zone for ATTAINS §303(d) data.

How does Spartanburg County rank for water quality in South Carolina?

Spartanburg County ranks #19 out of 46 counties in South Carolina by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 71.5/100, 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

Greenville County

South Carolina

71.8

Water score

Anderson County

South Carolina

71.1

Water score

Horry County

South Carolina

68.4

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 May 14, 2026Reviewed by Evan Brooks, Data Editor

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