$1.9M expansion proposed for water treatment facility in eastern Orangeburg County

The facility can produce up to 8.5 million gallons of clean drinking water per day. The expansion would increase its capacity by 40 percent, to 12 million gallons per day.

The expansion would cost about $1.9 million. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would provide about $1,425,000, or roughly 75 percent of the money.

Agency members would contribute $475,000. The amount each agency member would pay would be proportional to the additional capacity they reserve.

Dorchester County officials are requesting just over half of the additional capacity. Officials of Orangeburg County, Calhoun County, and the Town of Santee will discuss how to divide the rest of the additional capacity among themselves.

Agency members were informed during their meeting on Thursday, March 7, that Berkeley County does not plan to seek additional capacity at this time.

Instead, Berkeley County soon will be getting more water through a transmission line that is dubbed the Orangeburg-Berkeley Reach.

The new line will draw water from an existing transmission line at Boyer crossroads, south of Holly Hill, and continue eastward into the Sandridge community of Berkeley County.

The contract has been awarded for the first phase of construction. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, March 20.

The design work on the second phase is substantially complete, so the project can be sent out for bids in the near future.

Courtney Watkins, Santee Cooper’s water system manager, gave updates on these and other water transmission line and storage tank projects.

The Winding Woods Reach, which runs from Harleyville to the east side of St. George, needs a final bit of electrical work and a sanitary cleansing, but all of the leaks have been identified and fixed, so pressure testing can begin soon.

The Providence Reach in eastern Orangeburg County is on track for completion in about three months.

Design work is 30 percent complete on the Cameron Reach in Calhoun County. Work on the St. Matthews Reach, which will extend from the Cameron Reach, is further in the future.

In the Vance area, the proposed location of a water storage tower has been shifted to avoid a well and a septic drain field, but it’s still going to share the same property as the Vance fire station. Design and engineering work are pending.

The Vance tower will serve water lines that will serve rural areas south of Vance, generally along Pineland Street toward Lodge Hall Street.

The Lake Marion Regional Water Agency’s next regular meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday, May 2, online and in person in the second floor meeting room of the water treatment facility on Graveyard Rock Road east of Santee.