How customers feel about their rural water and sewer service was the subject of a customer-satisfaction survey April 21 - May 23 for the Laurens County Water and Sewer Commission.
Board members for the commission reviewed results at their regular monthly meeting, July 29, and heard that there were 257 responses to the on-line survey. Catherine Carter, of Raftelis, led the board through a discussion of the survey results. Among the comments was this one, “LCWSC and LEC (Laurens Electric Co-op) are two of the finest companies I’ve dealt within 50 years of living in South Carolina.”
Most agree that LCWSC provides safe drinking water (65%); however, 22% disagree with a statement that rates are fair and appropriate. In the survey, 74% agree that the commission should replace aging infrastructure. Most of those who responded have been long-time customers of LCWSC.
“It is a good representation of the people we wanted to get feedback from,” said Jeff Field, LCWSC executive director. Customers suggested improvements to the billing format related to when payments are credited to an account. A surprising 40% said LCWSC should improve fire protection. Field said the commission installs fire hydrants on line extensions as money is available, and urges contractors to upgrade fire protection as much as possible in subdivisions.
“We put hydrants on all new lines, and we require developers to install hydrants,” Field said. “Growth and economic development will drive the ability to install fire hydrants.”
Another consideration is cost - pre-COVID a fire hydrant cost $1,400; the post-COVID cost is $3,600 to the commission.
“The cost of doing business has gone up tremendously since COVID,” Field said of the worldwide, respiratory disease pandemic of 2020-21, that disrupted supply chains around the globe.
Last year, LCWSC responded to 89 water quality complaints requiring a service call, the vast majority for taste and odor.
Overall, around 70% of survey respondents were very satisfied or satisfied with water quality.
Related to water and sewer rates, Field said LCWSC’s water rates are comparable to Woodruff and Newberry, and its sewer service rate is on the lower side.
“We are not really a rural water system anymore,” Field said. “There are some areas where customers are spread out, but it’s more efficient to have concentration (of customers). Overall, our rates are similar to Greenville; but with more customers, Greenville has economics of scale.”
One way LCWSC attempts to keep costs low related to new projects and construction is to apply for grants - the commission has successfully secured $18.3 Million in grants in the last 3 years, $10.6M of that in the water distribution area. Also, the commission has secured a payback of $200,000 from FEMA, out of $300,000 that LCWSC spent responding to Hurricane Helene of Sept. 27, 2024. Most of the expense was to clear fallen trees from rights-of-way and to run generators to keep pumps going while the electricity was down - Laurens County had no widespread water failures during the massive storm that wrecked western North and South Carolina.
LCWSC secured a low-interest U.S. Department of Agriculture loan to construct its Lake Greenwood Water Treatment Plant for $28.5 Million (its ground-breaking was Nov. 14, 2019). Field said, today, that plant would cost $120M to construct.
It was 10 years in the planning stage after 25 years in the discussion stage, Field told the board as a way to emphasize that infrastructure plans must be well-thought-out and researched before millions of dollars are committed.
