Who serves this area
Many addresses inside the City of Goose Creek are served by the City of Goose Creek Water Division, public water system ID SC0810004. The City is a member of the Lake Moultrie Water Agency.
This is not the only utility in town. Some nearby neighborhoods are served by Berkeley County Water & Sanitation (for example, county systems with their own 2025 reports, including Sangaree and others). A few addresses may be on Charleston Water System. Check your water bill. This page summarizes the City of Goose Creek's 2025 report. County customers should read the matching BCWS 2025 reports.
The City's current report is the Annual Drinking Water Quality Report for the monitoring period January 1–December 31, 2025: 2025 Goose Creek CCR (PDF). The Water Division page is at goosecreeksc.gov.
Where the water comes from and how it is treated
The source is Lake Moultrie. Water is treated at the Santee Cooper Regional Water System plant (about 40 million gallons a day, operating since 1994) and then delivered by the City through its distribution system. The same regional plant also supplies Summerville CPW, Moncks Corner, and Berkeley County Water & Sanitation. The City is a member of the Partnership for Safe Water. Chloramines are used as a secondary disinfectant to help limit disinfection byproducts. Fluoride in the plant finished water was 0.64 ppm in 2025.
Sources: City of Goose Creek 2025 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report; Goose Creek Water Division.
How to read these numbers
Utilities must meet a legal limit — usually a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), a Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level (MRDL) for disinfectants, or an Action Level (AL) for lead and copper. The health goal, or Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG), is the level below which EPA expects no known health risk. It is often lower than the legal limit, and it is not a violation if a result is above the health goal but below the legal limit.
PFAS figures below are compared with EPA's current legal limits of 4 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOA and PFOS, and 10 ppt for PFHxS, PFNA, and HFPO-DA (GenX). Those limits were finalized in 2024. They are not yet being enforced as violations. The original compliance deadline is 2029; EPA has since discussed extending it to 2031. Until a later deadline is finalized, treat 2029 as the date utilities have been told to plan for.
Sources: EPA PFAS drinking water rule; EPA announcement on PFOA and PFOS MCLs; Charleston Water System 2026 Water Quality Report, p. 14.
What's in Goose Creek water
The City reported no violations for the 2025 monitoring period and stated that EPA has determined the water is safe at the levels detected. Several plant results are identical to other Lake Moultrie customers, as expected for a shared treatment plant. Lead, copper, TTHM, HAA5, and chlorine are measured in the City's own system.
| Substance | Level | Legal limit | Health goal (MCLG) | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total coliform / E. coli | Not detected | 5% / 0 | 0 | 2025 | |
| Turbidity (plant) | Highest 0.18 NTU (range 0.06–0.18); 100% of samples met the limit | Treatment technique (1 NTU maximum; 95% under 0.3) | — | 2025 | |
| Nitrate (plant, as nitrogen) | 0.28 ppm | 10 ppm | 10 ppm | 2025 | |
| Selenium (plant) | 4.3 ppb | 50 ppb | 50 ppb | 2025 | |
| Sodium (plant) | 10 ppm | No MCL | — | 2025 | |
| Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) | Running annual average 28 ppb (range 19.50–31.30) | 80 ppb | None set | 2025 | Disinfection byproduct in the City system. |
| Haloacetic acids (HAA5) | Running annual average 18 ppb (range 9.70–16.50) | 60 ppb | None set | 2025 | Disinfection byproduct in the City system. |
| Fluoride (plant) | 0.64 ppm | 4 ppm | 4 ppm | 2025 | |
| Gross alpha, excluding radon and uranium (plant) | 1.02 pCi/L | 15 pCi/L | 0 pCi/L | (most recent in this report; not more than five years old) | The table does not print a separate sample year for this row. |
| Lead (90th percentile at customer taps) | Not detected; 1 sample was over the action level (range 0–27.2 ppb) | 15 ppb action level | 0 ppb | 2023 | See the lead section. Reduced monitoring: every three years. |
| Copper (90th percentile at customer taps) | 0.0774 ppm (range 0.0031–0.301); 0 samples over the action level | 1.3 ppm action level | 1.3 ppm | 2023 | |
| Chloramines (plant) | 3.27 ppm (highest quarterly average; range 3.10–3.27) | 4 ppm MRDL | 4 ppm MRDLG | 2025 | |
| Chlorine (distribution) | 3.3 ppm (range 0.34–3.31) | 4 ppm MRDL | 4 ppm MRDLG | 2025 | |
| Hardness (plant) | 23 ppm | No standard | — | 2025 | Soft water. |
| pH (plant) | 7.93 | 6.5–8.5 secondary guideline | — | 2025 | |
| Total dissolved solids (plant) | 72.5 ppm | 500 ppm secondary guideline | — | 2025 | |
| Alkalinity (plant) | 19 ppm | No standard | — | 2025 | |
| PFOA (UCMR 5, plant) | Average 6.65 ppt (range 5.9–7.4) | 4 ppt (future standard; not a current violation) | 0 ppt | 2025 | |
| PFOS (UCMR 5, plant) | Average 7.3 ppt (range 7.2–7.4) | 4 ppt (future standard; not a current violation) | 0 ppt | 2025 | |
| GenX / HFPO-DA (UCMR 5, plant) | Average 2.95 ppt (range 2.8–3.1) | 10 ppt (future standard) | — | 2025 | |
| PFHxS (UCMR 5, plant) | Average 2 ppt (range 1.9–2.1) | 10 ppt (future standard) | — | 2025 | |
| PFNA (UCMR 5, plant) | Not detected | 10 ppt (future standard) | — | 2025 | |
| PFBS (UCMR 5, plant) | Average 3.75 ppt (range 3.7–3.8) | No standalone MCL | — | 2025 | |
| PFHxA (UCMR 5, plant) | Average 4.8 ppt (range 4.7–4.9) | No MCL | — | 2025 | |
| PFHpA (UCMR 5, plant) | Average 2.55 ppt (range 2.5–2.6) | No MCL | — | 2025 |
Source: City of Goose Creek 2025 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report, "What's in the water?" and UCMR 5 tables.
Lead
Lead and copper results are from 2023. The City is on reduced monitoring (once every three years) because it has shown low levels over time. The 90th percentile for lead was not detected, which means at least 9 in 10 sampled taps were below the lab's reporting level. One sample was over the 15 ppb action level, and the reported range went up to 27.2 ppb. That is why a system can meet the 90th-percentile rule and still have a single home above the action level: lead comes from plumbing, and homes differ.
The City has a service line inventory on the 120Water public dashboard. For testing questions, the report lists Mandy Neumann at (843) 824-2200 ext. 4260.
Source: City of Goose Creek 2025 report, lead/copper table and footnote, and lead information text.
PFAS
Santee Cooper tested finished water at the Lake Moultrie plant under UCMR 5 in 2025. Average PFOA was 6.65 ppt and average PFOS was 7.3 ppt, both above EPA's future 4 ppt standard. That is not a current violation. GenX averaged 2.95 ppt, below the future 10 ppt standard. These plant results also appear, as expected, in other Lake Moultrie utilities' reports.
Source: City of Goose Creek 2025 report, UCMR 5 table.
Disinfection byproducts
In the City's distribution system in 2025, the running annual average was 28 ppb TTHM (limit 80) and 18 ppb HAA5 (limit 60). The report notes that chloramines are used as a secondary disinfectant to help keep these byproducts down.
Source: City of Goose Creek 2025 report, TTHM/HAA5 rows and narrative notes.
What the utility report can't tell you
A utility report describes water as it leaves the treatment plant and as it moves through the public system. It cannot tell you what comes out of your own faucet.
- Your pipes and fixtures. Lead and copper usually come from a home's service line, solder, or fixtures — especially in homes built before the 1986 federal lead ban — not from the water leaving the plant.
- Private wells. If you are on a well, this report does not apply to you. South Carolina does not regulate private household wells; owners are responsible for testing.
- Older homes. Even when a utility meets every legal limit, a single older home can still have higher lead or copper at the tap.
A useful next step
If you want a snapshot of your own tap water, Auraven Labs offers a free in-home water check. During the visit we measure pH, conductivity, TDS (total dissolved solids), and salinity. Those readings do not detect lead, bacteria, PFAS, or other contaminants, and they do not determine whether your water is safe.
If you want a certified laboratory analysis of your tap water, the City Basic lab test is available for $329.