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Pickens Water Treatment Plant Sc3910001

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
10,263 people
Connections
4,633
Water source
Surface water
Based in
Pickens, SC
County
Pickens
Owner
Local government
The 2 ZIP codes it serves

29671, 29685

The short answer

1 result is above EPA’s legal limit, and 1 more is above the health goal. The worst: Haloacetic acids (HAA5), above the legal limit. 1 health-based violation since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

PFAS and lithium: EPA UCMR 5, samples taken from Nov. 7, 2023 to Aug. 19, 2024.

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2004 to 2025.

Haloacetic acids (HAA5), total trihalomethanes (TTHM), fluoride, nitrate, arsenic and chromium (total): South Carolina’s own results, samples taken from Jan. 16, 2020 to July 20, 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 4 samples, below 4 ppt
PFOS4.0 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples, below 4 ppt
PFHxS10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples, below 3 ppt
PFNA10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples, below 4 ppt
HFPO-DA (GenX)10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples, below 5 ppt
PFBSIndex onlyNot foundNot found in any of 4 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 legal limit1

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Above the legal limit

45.4ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026 average: 9.3 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 45.4 ppb, in 2023, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. Its highest single sample was 75.9 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its 12 samples averaged 9.3 ppb. EPA judges this limit at each sampling point, and recorded a violation for haloacetic acids (HAA5) at this utility in 2023. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 45.6 ppb, in 2015.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Above the health goal1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

4.0ppb

90th percentile, 2023 to 2025

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 4.0 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

55.4ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026 average: 8.3 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 55.4 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. Its highest single sample was 98.5 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its 12 samples averaged 8.3 ppb. EPA recorded no violation for total trihalomethanes (TTHM) at this utility since 2020. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 63.9 ppb, in 2015.

What handles it

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

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

0.82ppm

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2024

2024: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.82 ppm, in 2022, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. In 2024, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in its one sample. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 0.92 ppm, in 2014.

What handles it

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

0.1ppm

Highest sample; found in 5 of 5

2024, one sample: 0.07 ppm

The highest sample, in 2020, was 0.1 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2024, the latest year on file, its one sample was 0.07 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 0.13 ppm, in 2019.

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
32 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)

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

Pickens Water Treatment Plant Sc3910001 reported disinfecting with chlorine, not chloramine, at its one sampling point, in its 2023 to 2024 sampling for EPA.

Chlorine leaves water that sits out for a few days, CDC says. A filter certified for it carries a chlorine claim under NSF/ANSI 42; a shower filter, a free chlorine claim under NSF/ANSI 177. This is what the utility reported for that sampling. Its annual water quality report says what it uses now.

Chlorine vs. chloramineShower filters, by what their listings cover

Violations since 2016

Contaminant or ruleTypePeriodMeasuredStatus
Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)The running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageJuly 1, 2023 to Sept. 30, 20230.062 MG/LArchived
Health-based violations only. Resolved and archived mean the utility returned to compliance or the state closed the record.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Haloacetic acids (HAA5), total trihalomethanes (TTHM), fluoride, nitrate, arsenic and chromium (total) results here are South Carolina’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Pickens Water Treatment Plant Sc3910001’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 Nov. 7, 2023 to Aug. 19, 2024; South Carolina’s results run from Jan. 16, 2020 to July 20, 2026.

Testing your own tap

Pickens Water Treatment Plant Sc3910001’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 Pickens Water Treatment Plant Sc3910001 serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • International Product Assurance Laboratories

    Anderson, SC · about 26 miles

    Certified for lead and copper, metals

    (864) 784-9883

  • Alliance Technical Group LLC - Greenville

    Greenville, SC · about 28 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, organic chemicals, disinfection byproducts

    (864) 232-1556

  • L&L Environmental Ware Shoals

    Ware Shoals, SC · about 50 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (864) 456-2696

All 36 certified labs for South Carolina

Sources

PWSID SC3910001. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Towns it serves

Also in Pickens County

All South Carolina utilities

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