South Carolina is usually at the top of the bad rankings and the bottom of the good ones … but not on the issue of water quality.
According to several recent surveys, the Palmetto State and some of its most prominent municipalities are faring better than the rest of the nation when it comes to the quality of drinking water.
Earlier this year, in its list of natural environment rankings for states, U.S. News and World Report ranked South Carolina fifth nationally in terms of water quality – trailing only Hawaii, Alabama, Tennessee and Illinois. That solid score offset weaker rankings in other categories to place the state at No. 22 on the overall environmental scale.
Meanwhile, last fall the website BestLife ranked the city of Charleston, S.C. as the No. 4 municipality in America in terms of water quality (out of the 200 largest cities in the nation). Charleston trailed only Sioux Falls (South Dakota), Tallahassee and Louisville.
BestLife based its ranking on which cities had “the lowest number of contaminants in the local water,” according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
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[/timed-content-server]An estimated 78 percent of South Carolinians receive their tap water from public systems, according to statistics from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC).
The agency monitors these systems “to make sure that they meet EPA standards.” SCDHEC does not monitor wells on private property, however – although it does maintain an inventory of these private wells.
To learn more about South Carolina’s drinking water quality, click here.
If you are serious about drinking safer, we recommend a nice vapor-distilled bottled water. And whatever brand you choose, make sure to get it in a bottle that is bisphenol A (a.k.a. BPA) free.
We prefer the Simple Truth brand, but that’s just us …
Finally, as we are just beginning to cover this issue (at the request of one of our readers) we look forward to receiving information from our readers on water quality in their hometowns as well as any other helpful information they are willing to pass along.
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