Fluoride is worth checking in Beaufort County wells.
1 worth checking, 5 rare out of 6 health checks.
From 15 wells tested in Beaufort County since 2000; your own well needs its own test. How to read this
Not charted, because fewer than 10 wells were tested: radon (4).
Rare: under 5%Worth checking: 5 to 15%Widespread: 15%+
Lab results: Water Quality Portal (USGS and EPA)
Who drinks from a well here
1 in 7 people 24,992 people
Nobody else tests these wells. Only you do.
People on wells: EPA researchers' 2020 estimate
How deep wells go here
Middle depth: some shelter from the surface, not complete.
Well depths: US Groundwater Well Database
Radon risk (a gas from rock)
Less likely, but the EPA still says test your air.
Radon zones: EPA map
Here's how Beaufort County compares with South Carolina and the counties around it.
Each result puts Beaufort County next to the 3 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
This one is worth checking in Beaufort County.
Fluoride2 of 14 wells over
Too few tested to show: Hampton, Jasper.
These 5 are rare in Beaufort County.
Nitrate0 of 15 wells over
Too few tested to show: Hampton, Jasper.
Lead0 of 15 wells over
Too few tested to show: Hampton, Jasper.
Arsenic0 of 14 wells over
Too few tested to show: Hampton, Jasper.
Manganese0 of 15 wells over
Too few tested to show: Hampton, Jasper.
Uranium0 of 14 wells over
Too few tested to show: Hampton, Jasper.
Too few Beaufort County wells were tested for this one.
Radon in water4 wells tested
Coliform bacteria turned up in 2 of 7 tested Beaufort County wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria2 of 7 wells had it
E. coli1 of 7 wells had it
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Beaufort County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 3 of 15 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains3 of 15 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Hampton, Jasper.
Most of the 15 wells tested in Beaufort County were last tested before 2010.
An old result shows the water as it was then, so treat these 15 wells as a starting point and test your own.
Most Beaufort County wells in these records were tested for research or because someone suspected a problem, which can push the shares above what a typical home well would show (how we read the numbers).
One mail-in lab test covers the 4 things to check in Beaufort County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Fluoride
- Arsenic
What South Carolina offers well owners
- Free testingSCDES gives people over 65 or on public assistance one free coliform bacteria test and one free metals and minerals analysis per year, and fees may be waived or reduced based on ability to pay. See the program
- Certified labsSouth Carolina's list of certified labs
- Well recordsSouth Carolina's well record search
Half the household wells here are shallower than 100 feet.
That comes from 286 household wells in South Carolina's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 65 to 175 feet deep. Wells as deep as Beaufort County's are usually better protected from fertilizer and bacteria at the surface, but they can pick up more of what's in the rock, like arsenic and uranium. Typical household wells here are shallower than in 28 of the 32 other South Carolina counties with enough drilling records.
Look up your own well's depth in South Carolina's well record search, or see how to find it.
Well depths: US Groundwater Well Database
Here's what we know about radon and PFAS in Beaufort County.
Beaufort County is in the EPA's lowest radon zone, so radon from well water is unlikely to be a problem. Radon guide
Between 2023 and 2025 the EPA had 5 town water systems in Beaufort County test for PFAS. 3 of them had at least one test above 4 ng/L, the new EPA limit for PFOA and PFOS. The highest single result was 5.6 ng/L of PFOA. No well in Beaufort County has public PFAS results, so the town systems are the best clue to what's in the groundwater nearby. PFAS guide
Radon zones: EPA Map of Radon Zones. PFAS: EPA tests of town water systems, 2023 to 2025
Questions people ask about well water in Beaufort County
Is well water in Beaufort County safe to drink?
2 of 14 wells tested in Beaufort County had fluoride over the limit, about 1 in 7. Across South Carolina it's about 1 in 33. That's a bigger share than in 4 of the 5 other South Carolina counties with 10 or more tested wells. So test your own well for fluoride before you count on it.
Can I get my well tested for free in Beaufort County?
SCDES gives people over 65 or on public assistance one free coliform bacteria test and one free metals and minerals analysis per year, and fees may be waived or reduced based on ability to pay. If not, use a lab South Carolina has certified for drinking water. Ask for bacteria, nitrate, fluoride and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Beaufort County.
How deep are wells in Beaufort County?
Half the household wells here are shallower than 100 feet. Typical household wells here are shallower than in 28 of the 32 other South Carolina counties with enough drilling records.
How does Beaufort County compare with the counties around it?
For fluoride, the share of tested wells over the limit: Colleton, the one neighbor with data, came in lower than Beaufort County, at 0% against 14%. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Colleton's 0% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Beaufort County?
In Beaufort County, 2 of 7 tested wells had coliform bacteria, so the CDC's advice matters here: test for bacteria and nitrate every year, and right away after a flood, a repair, or any change in taste or smell.
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Where the Beaufort County numbers come from
- People on wells: 24,992 in Beaufort County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 194 well water samples from 15 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2019.
- Well depths: 286 South Carolina drilling records for Beaufort County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 3 counties that share a border with Beaufort County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 5 town water systems in Beaufort County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Beaufort County is zone 3 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Department of Environmental Services (SCDES), checked November 1, 2026.