Every year, Summerville CPW publishes a Consumer Confidence Report. The 2026 CCR covers testing data from the prior year and tells you what's in your tap water by the numbers.
It's a public document, and you should have it. Here it is: Summerville CPW's water quality report. Download the PDF, keep it, and read along with what's below.
What the CCR covers
The CCR lists every regulated contaminant CPW tested for, the detected levels, the federal Maximum Contaminant Level, and the range across the system. That's it. It is a compliance document, which is why it reads like one.
Two things it does not do. It does not tell you what is in your water at your tap, only what the system measured at its sampling points. And it does not tell you anything about contaminants that are not federally regulated.
The numbers that matter for Summerville residents
Hardness runs around 7.2 grains per gallon. Hardness is not a regulated contaminant, so it is not the headline of the CCR, but it is the number most residents actually feel. It is the spotting on your dishes and the film on your shower door.
Chlorine is CPW's primary disinfectant. The CCR shows chlorine residual levels and disinfection byproduct readings. That matters because chlorine and chloramine behave differently in a home filter, and CPW uses chlorine while Charleston Water System uses chloramine.
The EWG database flags 11 contaminants above its health advisory guidelines, including total trihalomethanes at roughly 168 times and haloacetic acids at approximately 368 times the EWG advisory levels. Read that carefully: these levels are legal under EPA standards. EWG sets its guidelines far below the federal enforceable limits, so a number can be both fully compliant and flagged by EWG. Both things are true at once, and anyone who tells you only one of them is selling you something.
CPW is investing $43.5 million of a $96 million treatment upgrade focused on the treatment process.
How to read yours
1. Open the CCR PDF.
2. Find the contaminant table. Ignore the acronyms for a second and look at two columns: the detected level and the MCL.
3. Anything at or near the MCL is worth asking about. Anything well under it is doing what it should.
4. Then look at what is not in the table at all. That is the gap between "legal" and "what I actually want coming out of my tap," and it is a personal judgment, not a regulatory one.
Your tap is not the system average
The CCR is a system-wide report. Your house has its own plumbing, its own age, its own distance from the treatment plant. That is the whole reason I test at your kitchen counter instead of quoting you a system average.
Call (843) 302-5720 if you want a free test to compare your tap's numbers to what the CCR reports system-wide. Forty-five minutes, results on the spot, and if your water is already where you want it I'll tell you that and leave.