The Groundwater Program delineates and maps the principal aquifers and confining units of the Coastal Plain.

Overview

Groundwater is a major source of water for public supply, irrigation, industry, and power generation. The Coastal Plain covers two-thirds of the State yet contains about 95% of its groundwater resources. It consists of layers of unconsolidated sand, clay, and limestone. Sand and limestone layers are porous and constitute the water-bearing zones called aquifers; clay layers are relatively impervious and constitute the confining units.

Groundwater data is used for drought monitoring purposes.

Overview

SCDES maintains a drought monitoring network of approximately ten wells across the State equipped with real-time monitoring equipment. These wells, along with additional wells monitored by the USGS, are used for drought monitoring purposes and are used as a drought indicator by the State Drought Response Committee in determining drought declarations. A map showing the current drought status of wells in the Drought Monitoring Network is shown on the right.

The Groundwater Program maintains a groundwater level monitoring network of more than 180 wells.

Links to real-time and historical streamflow, river stage, and lake level information.

The Groundwater Program has information on more than 14,000 water wells located in the Coastal Plain counties of South Carolina.

Overview

One of the key functions of the SCDES Hydrology Section is to gain a better understanding of the occurrence and availability of groundwater in South Carolina, and perhaps the best source of information about groundwater hydrology is water wells. To that end, SCDES and its predecessor, the South Carolina Water Resources Commission, has been collecting information on water wells since 1969, when the Commission was established.

This database contains geophysical logs collected from wells in South Carolina.