Aiken County, South Carolina: drinking water report. Aiken County serves about 170,000 residents in western South Carolina.
Aiken County serves about 170,000 residents in western South Carolina. The City of Aiken and Aiken County draw water from the Savannah River and local groundwater. The county borders the Savannah River Site (SRS), a Department of Energy nuclear weapons production complex that operated from the 1950s through the early 1990s.
The Savannah River Site's legacy is the defining environmental factor in Aiken County. SRS produced plutonium and tritium for nuclear weapons, and decades of operations contaminated groundwater and surface water on the 310-square-mile reservation. While drinking water intakes are monitored to ensure safety, the DOE's ongoing cleanup – one of the largest environmental remediation programs in the world – underscores the long-term contamination picture.
UCMR5 data shows PFAS detections in some county systems. According to the South Carolina DHEC, the Savannah River at Aiken County's intake has met drinking water standards, though SRS operations have historically contributed radionuclides and industrial chemicals to the river.
Aiken County's proximity to SRS makes monitoring uniquely important. DOE publishes annual environmental monitoring reports for the site.
Check your water for data specific to your area. Reverse osmosis handles the broadest range of contaminants. Our water filter guide covers options. Pull your detailed report, and visit our South Carolina page for statewide data.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Aiken County, SC.
The EPA places Aiken 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.
41% of homes in Aiken 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 Aiken County, SC averages 8.7 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