Richland County, South Carolina: drinking water report. Richland County – Columbia – serves about 420,000 residents.
Richland County – Columbia – serves about 420,000 residents. The City of Columbia draws from the Broad River, Lake Murray, and the Congaree River (where the Broad and Saluda Rivers merge). The county's position in the Midlands, between the Upstate mountains and the Lowcountry coast, gives it access to multiple surface water sources.
Columbia's surface water sources are generally clean, fed by rivers draining the Piedmont. UCMR5 data shows low-level PFAS detections in county systems. Fort Jackson, a major Army training installation within the Columbia city limits, is a potential PFAS source from AFFF use.
According to the South Carolina DHEC's 2024 monitoring data, PFAS levels in the Columbia system were below proposed federal MCLs. The 2015 catastrophic flooding – when over 20 inches of rain fell in parts of the county in three days – damaged water infrastructure and caused extended boil-water advisories, demonstrating the system's vulnerability to extreme weather.
Richland County's water quality is generally good under normal conditions. Extreme weather is the primary risk factor for disruptions.
Check your water for data in your area. A carbon filter handles taste and chlorine. For PFAS, reverse osmosis is more effective. Our water filter guide covers both. Pull your detailed report, and visit our South Carolina page for statewide data.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Richland County, SC.
The EPA places Richland County, SC in Zone 3 - the EPA's lowest-risk category, with a predicted average indoor radon level below 2 pCi/L. Zone maps predict an area's radon potential from geology and existing indoor readings; they say nothing about a specific house. Testing is the only way to know your own level.
40% of homes in Richland County, SC were built before 1980, and 8% before 1950. Residential lead paint was banned in 1978, so housing age is the strongest available proxy for lead-paint exposure. This describes the county's housing stock, not any one home.
Modelled annual fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) in Richland County, SC averages 7.9 µg/m³, within the EPA's annual standard of 9 µg/m³. These are CDC modelled county estimates rather than readings from a specific monitor.
How radon zones work · Air quality by county · Lead exposure guide
18 public water systems serving Richland County, SC have EPA lead testing on record. The reported lead sample skews toward systems that already flagged a problem, so its exceedance rate is not directly comparable with other areas. 9 water systems serving Richland County, SC carry a health-based EPA Safe Drinking Water Act violation.
| Most-cited violation type | Systems affected |
|---|---|
| Lead and Copper Rule | 7 |
| Revised Total Coliform Rule | 3 |
| Lead and Copper Rule Revisions | 3 |
| Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule | 1 |
| Chlorite | 1 |
Source: EPA Lead and Copper Rule 90th-percentile tap sampling and EPA SDWIS Safe Drinking Water Act enforcement records, aggregated from the public water systems serving this county. Figures are counts of water systems, not a test of any individual home or tap.