Ensuring you get the best

Water found in nature contains substances such as minerals, salts and metals, while viruses and bacteria can be introduced into water from farm animals, septic systems, or wild animals.

While Greenville Water’s private reservoirs are protected from outside development and toxic chemical waste, we continue to monitor and treat the water diligently to ensure the highest quality water is distributed to the Upstate through our two award-winning water treatment plants.

The Witty Adkins Treatment Plant, a conventional filtration plant with a current capacity of 90 million gallons per day (MGD), draws water from Lake Keowee. The L.B. Stovall Treatment Plant provides filtration for all water drawn from the Table Rock and North Saluda Reservoirs with a capacity of 75 MGD. Stovall is one of the largest plants in the United States to use an innovative flotation process for particle removal (see Step 2 below).

All treatment plants are maintained and monitored by State Certified Environmental Systems Operators who are thoroughly trained to perform routine chemical and physical testing for water treatment.

The Stovall and Adkins Water Treatment Plants use two approved methods of treating the water:

STEP 1: Coagulation

The water we collect from nature is mixed with alum to coagulate dirt to form larger particles, along with small amounts of sodium hydroxide for pH adjustment.

STEP 2: Sedimentation or Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF)
Adkins uses settling, meaning that over time the larger particles fall to the bottom where they are removed. Stovall, however, uses DAF to float the particles to the surface using pressurized air bubbles, where they are then scraped off from the top of the water.

STEP 3: Filtration
The remaining water flows through filters made of layers of fine materials, like sand or coal. These layers stop even smaller particles of contaminants from getting through, and only very clear water is left.

STEP 4: Disinfection
We add a small amount of chlorine combined with ammonia — known as chloramines — to protect against water-borne diseases.

STEP 5: Other Chemical Additions
Fluoride — the same thing in your toothpaste — is added at the last step in accordance with EPA guidelines to help prevent tooth decay. An ortho/polyphosphate blend is added to protect the pipes from corrosion as the water travels to your home.

The pink rings found in these locations are caused by an airborne bacteria called Serratia marcescens. It thrives in the moist, dark conditions often found in bathrooms. Products containing chlorine, such as common household bleach, will both remove and control the proliferation of Serratia marcescens.

The new US EPA regulatory guidance addresses PFAS chemicals, which are synthetic chemicals that have been manufactured and used by a broad range of industries since the 1940s. These chemicals have unique physical and chemical properties such as resistance to low and high temperatures, resistance to degradation and non-stick characteristics. These chemicals have been used in thousands of everyday products including non-stick pans, weather resistant clothing, cosmetics and food packaging. Because of decades of widespread use, PFAS has been detected worldwide in soil, air and water. Eighty (80) percent of PFAS environmental exposure has come from consumer products and manufacturing of these products while twenty (20) percent or less of the exposure comes from drinking water.

The new limits are set at four parts per trillion (ppt) for some of the most common PFAS categories found in parts of the US. In addition, the US EPA has set limits of 10 ppt for three other PFAS contaminant categories that may be found in some drinking water. The US EPA will also now require public water systems to monitor for these PFAS and provide the public with information on the levels of PFAS in their drinking water by 2027.

As part of the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, Greenville Water tested the finished water at both the Adkins and Stovall Water Treatment Plants for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in 2014, and none were detected. As a follow-up, in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023 Greenville Water tested for PFAS compounds at our Table Rock and North Saluda Reservoirs and Lake Keowee and none of the substances were detected.

The following US EPA and SCDHEC sites provide additional information on the subject:

US EPA https://www.epa.gov/pfas

SCDHEC https://scdhec.gov/environment/polyfluoroalkyl-substances-pfas