Hydrology - SCWRC Report 144
Ground-Water Conditions and Water-Supply Alternatives in the Waccamaw Capacity Use Area, South Carolina
A. Michel Pelletier
The present public water supply for the Waccamaw Capacity Use Area is developed almost entirely from aquifers in the Black Creek Formation. Water use is expected to increase by 140 percent by the year 2000, and there is concern about the adequacy of the present source to meet that need. Also, there are concerns about the quality of the water, specifically the sodium, fluoride, and chloride content.
These concerns have led to a search for alternate or supplementary supplies, ranging from the expansion of the existing ground water system to abandoning that system for a surface water supply. Several options are available, the most promising of which are a westward expansion of the ground-water well system and the tapping of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The possibility exists for storing some of the treated surface water, during off-season months, in the Black Creek aquifers, and using the stored water for peak-load management during the critical summer months of June, July, and August.
Copies of this report are available in the SCDNR's Columbia office.