While the City of Charleston, S.C., has about 118,000 citizens, the Charleston Water System distributes water to almost 400,000 customers in and around the city. The system is blessed with more than ample surface water to meet its needs for decades. Its greatest challenge is to maintain 1,400 miles of water mains through a diverse terrain that includes a sensitive downtown historic district, tidal flats, corrosive salt water marshes, a harbor, and the beds of Elliot Creek and the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. A program of extensive leak and corrosion detection and aggressive preventive maintenance initiatives helps the system meet
