Access to safe drinking water is essential to human health. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) administers and enforces drinking water quality standards and regulations - working with public water systems to keep our drinking water safe. South Carolina's water systems have a very high overall compliance with all chemical and biological drinking water standards and federal lead action levels.

DHEC promotes voluntary compliance with state and federal drinking water standards and also helps water systems achieve optimized water quality levels. The agency emphasizes prevention of contamination through source water protection and provides technical assistance and education.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 4 (EPA) conducted an end-of-year evaluation of the FY 2017 Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) program, administered by DHEC. DHEC exceeded the EPA National Water Program Measures and South Carolina continues to implement an effective drinking water program. See the full EPA Program Review here. 

In the News

Lead exposure and drinking water quality has been an important topic in the news recently. For more information about protecting drinking water in South Carolina from lead, visit our Lead and Drinking Water page.