As we celebrate Greenville’s beverage community during Drink Up Week, today we’re honoring what is arguably Greenville’s best drink: water.
Today, Greenville Water serves 500,000+ residents in the Upstate and sources from three reservoirs: Table Rock Reservoir, North Saluda Reservoir, and Lake Keowee.
According to the 2023 water quality report, Greenville water meets all Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards — it’s also won multiple “Best Taste” awards.
Did you know?
- The Greenville Watersheds are virtually 100% forested with 100+ miles of permanent streams. Public access to these lands is restricted, which is why Greenville Water is nationally known for providing some of the purest and best-tasting drinking water in the country.
- The Greenville Watersheds house diverse wildlife including bats, the pickerel frog, common raven, black bear, wood rat, green salamander, and the peregrine falcon (which is federally protected).
- There are currently 16 known species of fish, and possibly up to 28 others, that thrive in these clear cool waters including brook trout, rainbow trout, smallmouth bass, bream, crappie, pumpkinseed, redear sunfish, and bluegill.
We learned these facts at the Roper Mountain Science Center’s “Our Water Story” exhibit. As fall rolls around, you can visit during Afternoon Explorations.
The history
What events trickled down in years past for our water to be the best?
Let’s look at some pivotal moments that made Greenville’s water what it is today.
1880s-1930s
1889: The American Pipe Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia, PA builds the first water system in Greenville, which served 8,600 residents.
1899: The company becomes known as Paris Mountain Water Company + builds the first reservoir on the northeast slope of Paris Mountain to serve Greenville. A 12-inch water main (about half as wide as the length of a loaf of Swamp Rabbit’s Stecca) ran eight miles to Greenville, carrying the water by gravity. A second reservoir was built at a lower elevation on Paris Mountain in 1900.
1918: The Commissioner of Public Works of the City of Greenville purchases the original water system from Paris Mountain Water Company.
1920s-1990s
1920s-1930s: The Table Rock Watershed is purchased — making history as the first water system to have full land ownership for a drinking reservoir — and Table Rock Reservoir is constructed + begins operation.
1950s: The North Saluda Watershed is purchased and the Poinsett Reservoir (aka North Saluda Reservoir) is constructed to support Greenville’s growing population.
1985: Lake Keowee is added as another Greenville water source and the Witty Adkins Water Treatment Plant opens in Pickens County.
1993: The Greenville Water Commission grants a conservation easement to The Nature Conservancy, a global land conservation organization, to further protect the land.
2000s
2000: The Lyndon B. Stovall Water Treatment Plant is built — this plant uses Dissolved Air Flotation technology prior to filtration, which filters water ~10 times clearer than required standards.
2000s-2020s: Greenville Water wins “Best of the Best” Water Taste Test in 2011, and is named “Best Tasting” water in SC multiple times.
Cheers to keeping hydrated with the best of the best, Greenville. Stay up to date on the latest from Greenville Water and learn more about the organization here.
