Columbia, South Carolina
City of Columbia 2025 Water Quality Report (PWS 4010001). Broad River and Lake Murray. Hardness as CaCO3 36.0 ppm (range 20.0–47.0). Chloramines 2.7 ppm highest quarterly RAA (range 0–4.50). No Measure S-style residential softener ban turned up.
- Hardness36.0 ppm (range 20.0–47.0)
- Chloramines2.7 ppm highest quarterly RAA (range 0–4.50)
- TTHMs30 ppb LRAA (range 5.5–48)
- HAA524 ppb LRAA (range 0–31.8)
Best match for Columbia
Whole-house catalytic carbon for chloramine
No district prohibition on a brine drain turned up in the current file.
Catalytic carbon with a chloramine claim (NSF/ANSI 42 for chloramine). Regular chlorine carbon is the wrong box.
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Other options that still fit
Do not buy a softener on this supply
This supply is soft on the published numbers. A salt tank is usually the wrong box unless you are on a well or a different utility. Test the tap before you buy hardness equipment.
Under-sink reverse osmosis
The under-sink RO we actually run is Cloud RO — NSF/ANSI 58, kitchen tap, not a whole-house tank. Check the exact listing if PFAS is why you are shopping. Shop Amazon first for under-sink RO, or buy Cloud direct. Waterdrop is a tankless option if you want that path. A certifier-listed pitcher is the cheap first step. Nobody is paying for a medical claim.
Shop under-sink reverse osmosisBuy Cloud RO directShop Waterdrop reverse osmosisShop PFAS-listed pitchers
On the report
- Water utility
- City of Columbia Department of Utility Operations
- Hardness
- Hardness (CaCO3) 36.0 ppm, range 20.0–47.0 ppm, on the 2025 secondary-parameters table. — City of Columbia 2025 Water Quality Report
- Disinfectant
- Chloramines 2.7 ppm highest quarterly RAA (range 0–4.50), MRDL 4 ppm RAA. 2025 disinfectants table. Chlorine dioxide rows are printed separately for the Lake and Canal plants. — City of Columbia 2025 Water Quality Report
- Brine / salt to the sewer
- No district prohibition found in current research. Searched City of Columbia water and sewer pages and codes for a residential self-regenerating softener or brine-drain ban like LACSD Measure S. None turned up. Ask the sewer agency on the bill before you cut a brine drain.
Also around here
Extra context besides the utility report and the chart above — geology, an unregulated table, or a published study. Not a second set of printed tap numbers.
- MicroplasticsWHO’s 2019 review examined studies that found microplastic particles in treated tap and bottled water in many places. That is a published-occurrence finding, not a number from this city’s water-quality report, and we do not invent a particles-per-liter count for the tap.Microplastics in drinking-water — World Health Organization
- PFASEPA’s Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule required community systems this size to test 29 PFAS and lithium in 2023–2025. Open the UCMR 5 Data Finder for this PWS. This file does not invent a detection.Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Columbia drinking water is treated from the Broad River (Columbia Canal) and Lake Murray by the City of Columbia Department of Utility Operations (PWS 4010001). No City of Columbia residential softener ban like LACSD Measure S turned up. Ask the sewer agency on the bill before you cut a brine drain. This is not a legal opinion.
The 2025 secondary-parameters table prints hardness (CaCO3) 36.0 ppm (range 20.0–47.0). We do not invent a grains number that table did not print.
Chloramines 2.7 ppm highest quarterly RAA (range 0–4.50). TTHMs 30 ppb LRAA (range 5.5–48). HAA5 24 ppb LRAA (range 0–31.8). Kitchen shopping stays the Cloud RO / Waterdrop path already used on other cities if a listing is why you are looking.
Sources
- 2025 Water Quality Report — City of Columbia Department of Utility Operations. Accessed 2026-09-09.
Updated September 9, 2026. A city file is chemistry we can cite plus the sewer rule. No invented detections.