By March, 2028, most of the sewer collection lines around Clinton will have been re-habilitated, opening the city up for greater commercial and industrial potential.
That’s part of the ambitious comprehensive plan for the Laurens County Water and Sewer Commission, operators of the Clinton-Joanna Wastewater Treatment Plant, on the Bush River.
The wastewater collection lines involved in these projects were part of the Aug. 25 update to the LCWSC board that keeps them abreast of the water- and sewer-system growth envisioned throughout Laurens County.
Re-habbing includes the Beards Fork lift station, which carries a large part of Clinton’s wastewater; the project includes 7,000 linear ft of pipe and makes repairs in lines that are in very bad shape. It includes 37 manholes, with a total cost of $1.14 Million through a CDBG* appropriation.
This project will include the land envisioned for a massive travel-baseball complex, subdivision, and retail businesses area on City-owned property sold to a private developer. This is a large part of the Whitten Center property, declared surplus by the State and given to the City of Clinton (the state and the city split the sales proceeds).
This project will assist with providing wastewater services at I-385 and Hwy 308, envisioned for May, 2027.
A Clinton area sewer lift station upgrade, affecting areas behind Clinton High School and Whitten Center, was completed July 26. Line replacements at the wastewater treatment plant are on-going through $1.3M in CDBG funding (10-15% completed).
On the other side of Clinton, the Bush River gravity and flow monitors, from Sterilite to the former Renfro plant and then on to Joanna and the treatment plant, will include 149 manholes.
The board was told there are lots of beaver dams in this stretch of the river, posing a serious challenge to the necessary water flow. The State’s Office of Resilience (created in the wake of 2015 statewide flooding) is a financial agent for this project, to the tune of $1.9M with an envisioned date of March, 2028.
The wastewater treatment plant itself is undergoing an upgrade with $2.25M in State Revolving Fund money. This work will provide a better way to remove contaminants to Bush River.
LCWSC has set aside $287,000 for an emerging contaminants study.
Like water and sewer systems throughout the country, LCWSC is challenged by federal government regulations mandating the clean up of PFAs, also known as “forever chemicals”. This study will examine “potential treatment strategies,” the board was told, and a final engineering report is due in March, 2027.
The uncertainty here is in the government regulations. Utilities must be compliant by 2029, although that could be extended by 2 years.
“Is the expectation of the public, water so pure that it’s too costly to produce? - the purest as possible, we don’t care about the cost,” said Jeff Field, LCWSC executive director. “Is that the water demand in our country?”
Like other such utilities, LCWSC is looking to Congress. Local representatives have met with Congresswoman Sheri Biggs’ office to discuss potential federal investment in cleaning up forever chemicals — something that may be too costly for local utilities on their own, even with proceeds from a nationwide lawsuit against the chemical companies that produced these troublesome substances that leach into groundwater. LCWSC is looking for ways to fund a second, $800,000 study - a more robust evaluation and final engineering report - aimed for January, 2029.
Granular active carbon is showing promise in attacking “forever chemicals”; but, there also are studies looking at heat, electro-magnets, and insects.
The potential cost of removing “forever chemicals” locally is more than the entire cost of the Lake Greenwood Water Treatment Plant — built for $28M with an if-it-were-built-now cost of $120M.
That cost depends on what level of “cleaning” the federal government demands — the Biden Administration had a high-amounts demand, the Trump Administration has proposed a lower demand.
LCWSC also has responsibility for Lake Rabon, the source of the City of Laurens’ drinking water. Here, the utility is proposing a study as to how much water can be withdrawn at safe levels and an examination of silting. “What is the safe yield, and how much can be drawn without damage to the lake,” Field explained.
By November, LCWSC should have an idea of how long this study will take; the board was told that the head-waters of Lake Rabon originate at the QT in Simpsonville, and what goes on at the head-waters affects what happens down-stream.
Requests for Proposals have been sent to 7 companies that do these kinds of studies, as sanctioned by the State.
In all, these water- and sewer-upgrading projects (more are outlined in the three previous parts of this series) have been financed by $41M grant funds. LCWSC is getting that much work done for an out-of-pocket cost of $7 Million.
*CDBG = Community Development Block Grant
