Charleston Lowcountry & York County
Water Filtration Systems in Charleston & York County, SC
Specified from your utility’s own published numbers — not from a test kit carried in by a salesman.
Specified from your utility’s own published numbers — not from a test kit carried in by a salesman.
Quick answer: Southeastern Renovation installs water filtration and treatment across the Charleston Lowcountry and York County, SC. We specify systems from the figures your own utility publishes: Charleston is soft water disinfected with chloramine, carrying PFAS above EPA’s new limits; York County is softer still, with disinfection byproducts as the real issue. A licensed South Carolina general contractor, CLG.127339 — trade work by licensed plumbing subcontractors who pull their own permits. Call (843) 718-8177.
Almost every water treatment sale in this country starts the same way: somebody comes to your house, performs a test, and the test says you have a problem. The Florida Attorney General has written about it directly — in almost all of these cases, any water, even spring water, would fail the company’s test.
There is a better starting point, and you already own it. Every public water system publishes an annual report with state-certified laboratory results in it, free. We read that first. Where it says you need something, we will say so and price it. Where it says you do not, we will say that too — and on softeners in these two markets, that is usually the answer.
Six utilities supply the towns we work in, from four different sources, using two different disinfectants. These are their own numbers.
| System | Hardness | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Charleston Water System | 58.4 ppm · 3.4 grains | Charleston Water System FAQ · 2026 |
| Charleston Water System (2026 report) | 54 ppm · 3.16 grains | CWS 2026 Water Quality Report · 2026 |
| Mount Pleasant Waterworks | 40–44 ppm · 2.3–2.6 grains | MPW monthly water quality reports · 2026 |
| Lake Moultrie water — Summerville CPW, Goose Creek, Moncks Corner, Berkeley County | 23 ppm · 1.35 grains | Summerville CPW 2025 Water Quality Report · 2025 |
| Rock Hill — and Fort Mill, Tega Cay, York, York County | 35 (range 18–35) ppm · 2.05 grains | Rock Hill 2024 Water Quality Report · 2024 |
| Indian Land — Lancaster County Water & Sewer | 26 ppm · 1.52 grains | Catawba River Water Treatment Plant FAQ · 2026 |
Every supply in both markets is inside the USGS soft band. That single fact removes the most commonly sold product in this industry from the conversation, and it is checkable against the utilities’ own websites.
One filter on the main line, treating every tap in the house. The sizing is where most of them go wrong.
A membrane under the kitchen sink. The only technology with a real certification for PFAS — and it is the cheap one.
The most over-sold product in this industry. On city water here, the hardness numbers do not support it.
Every surface-water system in the tri-county tested above the federal PFOS limit. The fix is smaller and cheaper than you would think.
The black ring that comes back however often you clean. Three real causes, and only one of them is a filter.
More than a third of York County drinks from a private well. Iron, sulphur, low pH and bacteria — in the right order.
Charleston Water System publishes 58.4 ppm — 3.4 grains — and calls its own water moderately soft. National softener retailers build landing pages around 8.5 to 10.2 grains for this city. Two of the largest local home-services companies publish the direction of the hardness wrongly.
Ordinary carbon needs about ten minutes of contact time to strip chloramine. Catalytic carbon needs three to four. A typical 1.5 cubic foot tank on a three-bathroom house delivers roughly one minute.
Every surface-water system in the tri-county tested above EPA’s new PFOS limit. No whole-house system on the market carries a PFAS certification, and in a study of real homes four of six made PFAS worse. Under-sink reverse osmosis removed 94% or more.
Almost nobody in this industry publishes a price — Culligan, Kinetico and Pentair all answer the question with a button to book a free water test. Here is the short version; the full sourced tables are on the cost pages.
| System | Installed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Whole-house carbon filtration | $600 – $2,000 | HomeGuide — well water filtration system cost · 2026-04-24 |
| Water softener, single tank | $1,200 – $3,800 | HomeGuide — water softener cost · 2025-07-25 — Average about $2,500 |
| Water softener, dual tank | $1,700 – $5,000 | HomeGuide — water softener cost · 2025-07-25 |
| Salt-free conditioner | $1,500 – $4,500 | HomeGuide — water softener cost · 2025-07-25 |
| Under-sink reverse osmosis, tank | $300 – $700 | HomeGuide — reverse osmosis system cost · 2025-07-14 |
| Under-sink reverse osmosis, tankless | $450 – $950 | HomeGuide — reverse osmosis system cost · 2025-07-14 |
Full sourced breakdowns: Charleston prices · York County prices.
For PFAS, there is a real case — EPA measured PFOA and PFOS above the new federal limits in Charleston Water System’s water, and an under-sink reverse osmosis unit addresses it for a few hundred dollars.
For chlorine taste and smell, a properly sized catalytic carbon system does the job. For hardness, no — the utility’s own figure is 58.4 ppm, which it calls moderately soft.
Soft. Charleston Water System publishes 58.4 ppm, or 3.4 grains per gallon, and describes its own water as moderately soft.
USGS classifies anything under 60 mg/L as soft, and every public supply in both of our markets is under 60. York County is softer still, at 35 ppm in Rock Hill and 26 in Indian Land.
Yes. EPA’s monitoring measured PFOA at 4.3 and PFOS at 5.8 parts per trillion, both above the federal limit of 4.0 — and every surface-water system in the tri-county tested above the PFOS limit.
The limits are not enforceable until April 2029, so no utility here is in violation. Nationally, only about 12% of large water systems exceeded the PFOS limit.
Usually two things: catalytic carbon on the main line for the chloramine, and an under-sink reverse osmosis unit for PFAS and drinking water.
They do different jobs. If you can only do one, the under-sink unit addresses the more serious problem for far less money. A softener is rarely justified on either metro’s city water.
Whole-house carbon equipment runs about $1,100 to $3,500 with roughly $600 to $2,000 to install; under-sink reverse osmosis runs about $300 to $950 installed.
Full sourced tables are on the Charleston and York County cost pages, each figure with its source and date.
Read your utility’s free published report first. The Florida Attorney General warns that in almost all cases, any water — even spring water — would fail a company’s in-home test.
Minnesota’s health department lists the tactics in detail, including tests that appear to show contamination when they actually show naturally occurring minerals. And under the FTC’s Cooling-Off Rule you can cancel a sale made at your home until midnight of the third business day, even when you invited the salesperson in.
Southeastern Renovation is a licensed South Carolina general contractor, CLG.127339. The plumbing is performed by licensed plumbing subcontractors who pull their own trade permits.
We coordinate the job, the schedule and the inspections, and give you one written price for the whole thing before work starts.
Which system is right depends on which utility serves you. Each town page publishes that utility’s own figures.
Every town page names the utility that actually serves it and what that utility publishes about its own water. See all service areas.