BlockBefore

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.

Clearwater within Aiken County

Population over time

2 figures

Clearwater 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.

YearPeople Change
20104,370
20204,079-291 (-7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 21 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

481 since 1992

Regional 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/undetermined159
Debris and open burning115
Arson/incendiarism78
Misuse of fire by a minor77
Equipment and vehicle use15
Power generation/transmission/distribution8
Other causes8
Natural8
Recreation and ceremony6
Smoking4
Fireworks2
Railroad operations and maintenance1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
9 September 2000Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 1999Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 1999Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 1997Debris and open burning3.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 2009Debris and open burning2.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 1997Debris and open burning5.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
3 September 1999Debris and open burning3.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Aiken County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 31 shown

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Aiken County DepositREE, Zirconium, TitaniumPast Producer1879, 1955
Horse CreekTitanium, Zirconium, REE, ThoriumUnknownPlacer-Modern-Fluvial
Unidentified Mine(Horse Creek Mine)Zirconium, Sand and Gravel, Construction, REE, TitaniumPast ProducerSedimentary Kaolin
Horse CreekREEPast Producer
Aiken Kaolin DistrictKaolinProducer1852
Graniteville MineKaolinProducer
Langley MineKaolinProducer
Augusta Sand and Gravel Pit #1Sand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknownUnconsolidated Sediments
Clearwater MineSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknownSedimentary
Clearwater PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Aiken County

Storms near this place

11 since 1998

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2009Thunderstorm WindClearwater$10,000Sheriff reported many trees and powerlines down.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindClearwater-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 2025Thunderstorm WindClearwater-Aiken County EM reported numerous trees and powerlines in the Clearwater area of Aiken County. Time estimated by radar.
August 2007HailClearwater-Sheriff and public reported 3/4 inch hail.
August 2006Thunderstorm WindClearwater-Sheriff reported trees down in Beech Island.
April 2005HailClearwater-Sheriff reported 3/4 inch hail.
June 2005HailClearwater-Public reported 1 inch hail at Storm Branch and Pine Log roads.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindClearwater-SKYWARN spotter reported tops take out of several trees on Langley Dam Road.
May 2005Thunderstorm WindClearwater-Electric coop reported several trees down and power outages in Clearwater.
April 2004HailClearwater-Sheriff reported golf ball size hail in Clearwater and 3/4 inch hail at Beach Island and the Savannah River Site.
April 1998HailClearwater-SKYWARN spotters report 3/4 inch hail.

Every storm recorded in Aiken County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Johnstown0.9 miles21
Storm Branch Park1.1 miles21
Ridgecrest1.1 miles20
Crestdale1.1 miles20
Woodridge1.2 miles20
Bath1.3 miles19
Augusta View Heights1.6 miles20
Belclear1.6 miles20

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 ClearwaterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2317293The 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.