Clearwater, South Carolina
21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1921 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the North Augusta census division. It lies in ZIP code area 29842. It stands on Little Horse Creek. The Survey maps it on the Augusta East quadrangle. 4,079 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 148 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresClearwater fell from 4,370 to 4,079 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 4,370 | |
| 2020 | 4,079 | -291 (-7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 21 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1921 USGS Augusta quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1943 USGS Augusta quadrangle1:62500
- 1943 USGS Augusta East quadrangle1:125000
- 1954 USGS Augusta quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Augusta quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Augusta quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Augusta quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Augusta quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Augusta East quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1982 USGS Barnwell quadrangle1:100000
- 1995 USGS Augusta East quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
481 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 481 fires within 5 miles of Clearwater between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,075 acres in total. 8 started naturally. 78 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 159 |
| Debris and open burning | 115 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 78 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 77 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 15 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 8 |
| Other causes | 8 |
| Natural | 8 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2017 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 9 September 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 1999 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 1999 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 5 September 1997 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 4 September 2009 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 4 September 1997 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 3 September 1999 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 31 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 31 workings within 5 miles of Clearwater: 12 unknowns, 10 producers, 7 past producers, 2 occurrences. 10 still produce. What was taken out: Clay, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Kaolin, REE. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aiken County Deposit | REE, Zirconium, Titanium | Past Producer | 1879, 1955 | |
| Horse Creek | Titanium, Zirconium, REE, Thorium | Unknown | Placer-Modern-Fluvial | |
| Unidentified Mine(Horse Creek Mine) | Zirconium, Sand and Gravel, Construction, REE, Titanium | Past Producer | Sedimentary Kaolin | |
| Horse Creek | REE | Past Producer | ||
| Aiken Kaolin District | Kaolin | Producer | 1852 | |
| Graniteville Mine | Kaolin | Producer | ||
| Langley Mine | Kaolin | Producer | ||
| Augusta Sand and Gravel Pit #1 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | Unconsolidated Sediments | |
| Clearwater Mine | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | Sedimentary | |
| Clearwater Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
11 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Clearwater in 11 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 6 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clearwater | $10,000 | Sheriff reported many trees and powerlines down. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clearwater | - | Aiken EM reported multiple trees and powerlines down across the southern part of the county in the North Augusta, Belvedere, and Clearwater areas. Time estimated by radar. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clearwater | - | Aiken County EM reported numerous trees and powerlines in the Clearwater area of Aiken County. Time estimated by radar. |
| August 2007 | Hail | Clearwater | - | Sheriff and public reported 3/4 inch hail. |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clearwater | - | Sheriff reported trees down in Beech Island. |
| April 2005 | Hail | Clearwater | - | Sheriff reported 3/4 inch hail. |
| June 2005 | Hail | Clearwater | - | Public reported 1 inch hail at Storm Branch and Pine Log roads. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clearwater | - | SKYWARN spotter reported tops take out of several trees on Langley Dam Road. |
| May 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clearwater | - | Electric coop reported several trees down and power outages in Clearwater. |
| April 2004 | Hail | Clearwater | - | Sheriff reported golf ball size hail in Clearwater and 3/4 inch hail at Beach Island and the Savannah River Site. |
| April 1998 | Hail | Clearwater | - | SKYWARN spotters report 3/4 inch hail. |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johnstown | 0.9 miles | 21 | |
| Storm Branch Park | 1.1 miles | 21 | |
| Ridgecrest | 1.1 miles | 20 | |
| Crestdale | 1.1 miles | 20 | |
| Woodridge | 1.2 miles | 20 | |
| Bath | 1.3 miles | 19 | |
| Augusta View Heights | 1.6 miles | 20 | |
| Belclear | 1.6 miles | 20 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Clearwater | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2317293 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1231176. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.










