M. L. Summerville Company, LLC

The water works system was established on October 2, 1919 by a vote of the registered electors of the Town of Summerville.

Over the years, the system has been expanded to serve the residents of the Town of Summerville and certain areas beyond the Town limits.  The first water plant was located on East Doty Street next to the current Summerville-Dorchester Museum.  This plant was replaced in 1951 by the water treatment plant located on Bacons Bridge Road and the Ashley River.  In 1979, SCPW began using deep wells and since 1969, Summerville CPW maintained a connection with the Charleston CPW water system that supplied over two million gallons of water per day.  The water treatment plant remained active until 1991.

On July 28, 1992, the Commissioners approved a contract and resolution creating the Lake Moultrie Water Agency.  A 24 mgd (million gallons per day) surface water plant, with expansion capability up to 36 mgd, was built on Lake Moultrie by Santee Cooper at a cost of $36,000,000.  Four local utilities joined the Agency: Summerville CPW, Monks Corner Public Works Commission, the City of Goose Creek and Berkeley County Water and Sanitation Authority.  Summerville CPW began receiving all of its water from the Santee Cooper Regional Water System in October, 1994 and increased water production to 10 mgd.  In July 2000, the water plant was upgraded to 30 mgd, which increased Summerville CPW’s water production to 13.44 mgd.  The water plant’s contract production increased to 36 mgd in March 2004 increasing Summerville CPW’s water production to 16.32 mgd. 

The current system also includes three emergency standby wells capable of producing 5 million gallons of water per day and nine storage facilities with a combined capacity of 3.83 million gallons.

The water distribution system contains over 343 miles of pipe ranging in diameter from one inch to twenty-four inches.  Summerville CPW has over 1,447 fire hydrants, 4,774 valves and over 20,752 meters included in the system.