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City of Denmark

What EPA’s and South Carolina’s records show in this utility’s water: PFAS and lithium; nitrate, arsenic and other regulated chemicals; lead and copper; and violations since 2016, with the certification that handles each result.

Serves
3,500 people
Connections
1,375
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Denmark, SC
County
Bamberg
Owner
Local government
The ZIP code it serves

29042

The short answer

1 result is above the health goal. The worst: Lead, above the health goal. 1 health-based violation since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

PFAS and lithium: EPA UCMR 5, samples taken from March 20, 2024 to Nov. 12, 2024.

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2012 to 2024.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5), nitrate, arsenic, chromium (total) and fluoride: South Carolina’s own results, samples taken from April 7, 2020 to April 21, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

PFAS: None of the six PFAS in EPA’s 2024 drinking water rule was found in this utility’s samples. None of the other 23 PFAS tested for was found either.

EPA’s 2024 PFAS rule, compound by compound

PFASEPA’s limitResult
PFOA4.0 pptNot foundNot found in any of 6 samples, below 4 ppt
PFOS4.0 pptNot foundNot found in any of 6 samples, below 4 ppt
PFHxS10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 6 samples, below 3 ppt
PFNA10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 6 samples, below 4 ppt
HFPO-DA (GenX)10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 6 samples, below 5 ppt
PFBSIndex onlyNot foundNot found in any of 6 samples, below 3 ppt
Hazard IndexPFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA and PFBS together1Doesn’t applyDoesn’t apply: no sampling location found two or more of the four
Results from EPA’s UCMR 5 sampling. “Below” is the lab’s reporting level: a result under it reads as not found, which is not the same as zero. The limits are EPA’s 2024 rule, with compliance due from 2029; EPA has since proposed changes to some of them, explained on each compound’s page. PFBS has no limit of its own and counts only toward the Hazard Index, which adds up the four, each against EPA’s health-based level, from each sampling location’s average, as EPA’s UCMR 5 summary does. It counts only where two or more of the four were found, and is above the limit from 1.5.

Above the health goal1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

1.3ppb

90th percentile, 2022 to 2024

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 1.3 ppb, below EPA’s action level of 15 ppb. The action level drops to 10 ppb on Nov. 1, 2027. EPA’s health goal for lead is zero.

What handles it

Below EPA’s limits3

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

5.0ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2025

Averaged by year, the highest was 5.0 ppb, in 2025, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. Its highest single sample was 10.1 ppb. That was also the latest year on file. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 4.0 ppb, in 2019.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

1.5ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2025

2025 average: 0.59 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 1.5 ppb, in 2023, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. Its highest single sample was 2.9 ppb. In 2025, the latest year on file, its two samples averaged 0.59 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 0.5 ppb, in 2016.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

0.14ppm

Highest sample; found in 13 of 22

2026 average: 0.025 ppm

The highest sample, in 2020, was 0.14 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2026, the latest year on file, its three samples averaged 0.025 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 0.88 ppm, in 2017.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge)”
South Carolina utilities above EPA’s PFAS limits
33 compounds tested and not foundIncluding all six PFAS in EPA’s 2024 rule. Below the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.

From routine monitoring

  • Arsenic
  • Chromium (total)
  • Fluoride

PFAS and lithium, from EPA’s UCMR 5 sampling

  • 11Cl-PF3OUdS
  • 4:2 FTS
  • 6:2 FTS
  • 8:2 FTS
  • 9Cl-PF3ONS
  • ADONA
  • HFPO-DA (GenX)
  • Lithium
  • NEtFOSAA
  • NFDHA
  • NMeFOSAA
  • PFBA
  • PFBS
  • PFDA
  • PFDoA
  • PFEESA
  • PFHpA
  • PFHpS
  • PFHxA
  • PFHxS
  • PFMBA
  • PFMPA
  • PFNA
  • PFOA
  • PFOS
  • PFPeA
  • PFPeS
  • PFTA
  • PFTrDA
  • PFUnA

What handles it

A certification covers specific claims, not a whole standard. Look for these claims on the certifier’s listing, not the box. Wording varies a little: NSF writes “Lead Reduction,” WQA just “Lead.”

At the tap, or for the whole house?

Lead and copper usually come from pipes and fixtures inside or near your home. A whole-house system sits where water enters, so it cannot catch what your own plumbing adds after it. For those, the filter that counts is the one at the tap. How whole-house systems compare.

Filters with those claims on a certifier’s listing

Disclosure: TapBuff earns a commission if you buy through some links on this page. It does not change which standard or filter we name. As an Amazon Associate, TapBuff earns from qualifying purchases. How TapBuff makes money

Compare five-year costs

The best water filters for lead, ranked

Disinfectant

City of Denmark reported adding chloramine before water enters its pipes, at all 3 of its sampling points, in its 2024 sampling for EPA.

Chloramine is chlorine combined with ammonia. It lasts longer in the pipes, and unlike chlorine, it doesn’t leave water that sits out. A filter’s chlorine claim doesn’t cover it: look for the separate chloramine claim under NSF/ANSI 42. No shower filter can carry one: NSF/ANSI 177, the shower filter standard, covers free chlorine only. Fish, turtles and frogs need it removed from their water. This is what the utility reported for that sampling. Its annual water quality report says what it uses now.

Chlorine vs. chloramineFilters with a chloramine claimShower filters, by what their listings cover

Violations since 2016

Contaminant or ruleTypePeriodMeasuredStatus
Revised Total Coliform RuleE. coli was confirmed in the water system.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, E. coli (RTCR)Dec. 1, 2023 to Dec. 31, 2023—Archived
Health-based violations only. Resolved and archived mean the utility returned to compliance or the state closed the record. 2 monitoring or reporting violations not shown.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5), nitrate, arsenic, chromium (total) and fluoride results here are South Carolina’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. City of Denmark’s own annual report, which it must send you every year, has the contaminants this page does not show.

  • Your own plumbing. Lead results are the 90th percentile across homes the utility samples. Your home’s service line, solder and fixtures decide yours. A certified lab test is the only way to know.

  • What it means for your health. This page reports what the records show and EPA’s limits and goals; it is not medical advice. If you are worried about a health effect, talk to a doctor or your local health department.

  • Anything after the latest data. SDWIS data is from 2026 Q3; UCMR 5 samples are from March 20, 2024 to Nov. 12, 2024; South Carolina’s results run from April 7, 2020 to April 21, 2026.

Testing your own tap

City of Denmark’s results are for the water it sends out. What your own service line, solder and fixtures add shows up only in a test of your tap, by a lab South Carolina certifies.

The 3 labs South Carolina certifies closest to the area City of Denmark serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Water Systems Inc.

    West Columbia, SC · about 44 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (803) 218-8439

  • Pace Analytical Services LLC

    West Columbia, SC · about 44 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (704) 977-0963

  • Alliance Technical Group LLC - Columbia

    Columbia, SC · about 50 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, minerals and other inorganics

    (864) 232-1556

All 36 certified labs for South Carolina

Sources

PWSID SC0510002. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Nearby

All South Carolina utilities

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