Berkeley County, SC Water Use Rules: Leak Reporting Duty (2026)

Berkeley County Water and Sanitation Authority runs a four-phase drought response under sections 65-651 through 65-658 of the county code. " The identical duty repeats verbatim in section 65-655 once conditions escalate to an extreme drought phase, alongside a moratorium on new water-service connections and a tiered excessive-use rate schedule (regular rate up to 6,500 gallons a month, double the rate for 6,500 to 13,000 gallons, triple above that). At every phase the authority is separately required to "intensify maintenance efforts to identify and correct water leaks on the distribution system" on its own lines.

A customer who misses the ten-day repair window loses service until the leak is fixed and the account is brought current. Section 65-657 stacks a general surcharge schedule on top of any drought-restriction violation: $100 for a first violation, an added $250 for a second, and termination of service plus a $500 surcharge before restoration for a third. A customer who cannot comply can petition the authority for a variance under section 65-658 within ten working days of the drought proclamation, describing the water use, the hardship, and a compliance timetable; any variance granted still expires once the water supply shortage ends.