  In this work we present a sensitive and systematic single-dish survey of CCS
emission (complemented with ammonia observations) at 1 cm, toward a sample of
low- and intermediate-mass young star forming regions known to harbor water
maser emission, made with NASA's 70 m antenna at Robledo de Chavela, Spain.
  Out of the 40 star forming regions surveyed in the CCS(2_{1}-1_{0}) line,
only 6 low-mass sources show CCS emission: one transitional object between
pre-stellar and protostellar Class 0 phase (GF9-2), three Class 0 protostars
(L1448-IRS3, L1448C, and B1-IRS), a Class I source (L1251A), and a young T
Tauri star (NGC2071-North). Since CCS is considered an ``early-time'' (<10E+5
yr) molecule, we explain these results by either proposing a revision of the
classification of the age of NGC2071-North and L1251A, or suggesting the
possibility that the particular physical conditions and processes of each
source affect the destruction/production of the CCS. No statistically
significant relationship was found between the presence of CCS and parameters
of the molecular outflows and their driving sources. Nevertheless, we found a
significant relationship between the detectability of CCS and the ammonia peak
intensity (higher in regions with CCS), but not with its integrated intensity.
This tendency found may suggest that the narrower ammonia line widths in the
less turbulent medium associated with younger cores may compensate for the
differences in ammonia peak intensity, rendering differences in integrated
intensity negligible. From the CCS detection rate we derive a lifetime of this
molecule of ~(0.7-3) x 10E+4 yr in low-mass star forming regions.
