S.C. Code § 5-31-440
Any municipal corporation in this State desiring to establish waterworks or to enlarge or extend such works, whether it owns or operates the plant or not, may condemn lands, water rights, and water privileges or any other property, including existing waterworks or pipelines, or any part of them, necessary for the purpose of establishing, maintaining, extending, or operating a waterworks plant for supplying water to the municipal corporation and to its citizens. Proper compensation must be first made to the owners. The condemnation must be made in the manner provided in the Eminent Domain Procedure Act (Chapter 2 of Title 28). No municipality shall condemn any waterworks during the life of any franchise, nor when by contract there is any other method of valuation for the purpose of acquisition by the municipality upon the expiration of the franchise, except that the condemnation actions may be had during the last year of the term of the franchise to take effect by the transfer of title and possession immediately upon the expiration of such franchise. A municipal corporation may also enter upon and condemn lands and tenements for the purpose of protecting the watersheds from contamination, nuisances, or any condition which may be a menace to the public health, upon proper compensation being first made to the owner.
S.C. Code § 5-31-440