My showerhead is crusty. I've been here six months.
If you're in Cane Bay Plantation and you've said something like that to a neighbor, you're not alone. Cane Bay is the #12 top-selling master-planned community in the nation, with about 13,000 residents and growing. Most of those residents moved from somewhere with softer water. And most of them noticed their showerheads, their dishes, and their soap inside the first 90 days.
This report pulls from the public Summerville CPW data and the EWG Tap Water Database. Everything below is cited.
Cane Bay's Water Source
Cane Bay Plantation is in Berkeley County and is served by Summerville Commissioners of Public Works (CPW). CPW sources surface water from Lake Moultrie via the Santee Cooper Regional Water System. The same utility serves Nexton, Carnes Crossroads, Foxbank, and most of the 29483 area.
If you're in Cane Bay, you and your Nexton neighbor are drinking the same water.
7.2 Grains Per Gallon: What That Means in Your Shower
Summerville CPW water measures about 7.2 grains per gallon (gpg), which lands in the "moderately hard" category on the USGS hardness scale.
For context: if you moved from coastal Florida, you were probably at 1-3 gpg. New York City runs about 1 gpg. Most of California sits under 5 gpg. Charleston Water System (serving peninsular Charleston) runs about 3.4 gpg.
You went from soft or moderate to moderately hard. That jump is the whole reason your shower feels different.
The Visible Effects
At 7.2 gpg, here's what hard water does inside a Cane Bay home:
Showerheads. White calcium scale builds inside the nozzle holes. Water pressure seems to drop. You clean the showerhead with vinegar, and the crust comes back in a few weeks.
Dishes. The dishwasher leaves a film on your glasses. Spots appear on flatware. You add rinse aid, which helps, but it's treating the symptom rather than the cause.
Soap and hair. Soap doesn't lather the way it did in your last city. Shampoo leaves a residue. Your hair feels stiff or crunchy as it dries. You think it's the product. It's the water.
Laundry. Clothes come out stiffer. Towels lose their softness faster. You use more detergent to compensate.
Water heater. Calcium scale accumulates on the heating element. Over years, efficiency drops and the heater works harder. You won't notice this until the utility bill creeps or the heater dies early.
None of this is a health hazard. It's an aesthetic and maintenance story. But for a household spending $60 to $150 a month on EWG-rated soaps and bottled water, it's a story worth understanding.
Chlorine, Not Chloramine
CPW disinfects with chlorine. That's the pool smell some Cane Bay residents notice in the morning, especially from the hot water tap. It's normal at regulated levels.
This is different from Charleston Water System, Mount Pleasant Waterworks, and Dorchester County Water Authority, which use chloramine (chlorine combined with ammonia). The practical difference: a standard carbon filter handles free chlorine well. Chloramine needs a different media with longer contact time.
If you've got a fridge filter or a Brita and the chlorine taste isn't bothering you, the filter is doing its job. If the taste persists, a whole-home point-of-entry system addresses it before the water reaches any tap in the house.
EWG Flags on Summerville CPW
The EWG Tap Water Database flagged 11 contaminants above EWG's health guidelines for Summerville CPW (testing period 2014-2023). The headline numbers include TTHMs at 168x the EWG guideline, HAA9 at 368x, and chlorine disinfection byproducts across the board.
These are legal under EPA limits. EWG uses stricter benchmarks. The data is public and verifiable at the link above.
No Lead Service Lines
CPW completed its lead service line inventory and found zero lead pipes in the system. If your Cane Bay home connects to CPW, your service line from the street is not lead.
This is worth knowing because it's different from the Charleston Water System situation, where about 6,000 lead service lines were identified in older neighborhoods.
The March 2026 Advisory
On March 17-18, 2026, a contractor punctured the Santee Cooper main line at the Lake Moultrie Regional Water Plant. About 70,000 CPW customers (including Cane Bay residents) were placed under a boil-water advisory. It was lifted 24 hours after the repair.
If you were here for that, you already know the feeling. If you moved in after, it's worth knowing it happened.
The Cane Bay Growth Story
Cane Bay has grown from about 4,300 residents in 2015 to roughly 13,000 today. Berkeley County is SC's second-fastest-growing county at 3.2% year-over-year. When Lennar, DR Horton, and other production builders put up new homes at that pace, the infrastructure supporting those homes matters.
Your home is new. Your plumbing is new. Your water is still 7.2 gpg.
FAQ: Cane Bay Water
Is the water in Cane Bay the same as Nexton?
Yes. Both communities are served by Summerville CPW. Same source, same hardness, same disinfection method.
What about the spotty dishes from my dishwasher?
Spotty dishes are almost always a hardness story. Minerals in hard water leave a film when the water evaporates off the dish surface. A rinse aid helps temporarily. A whole-home conditioner or softener addresses it at the source.
If You Want to See Your Own Numbers
Book a free in-home water test. I'll drive out to your Cane Bay home, test your tap on the counter, and walk you through the results. 45 minutes. No obligation. If your water's fine, I'll say so.
Call or text Jarred at (843) 302-5720, or book at prstnwtr.com/book.