Continuing to work on sewer spills, Columbia plans $6 million project near Gills Creek
Columbia is planning an estimated $6 million sewer line project that would include more than a mile of new pipe near a section of Gills Creek.
Columbia City Council recently approved a $592,000 agreement with Michael Baker International for engineering on the first phase of the Gills Creek Relief Sewer project. According to city paperwork, the project will take place along the creek from Tall Pines Circle, which is just east of South Beltline Boulevard, down to the interchange of Bluff Road and Interstate 77.
According to Assistant City Manager Clint Shealy, the city recently completed a project to help address sewer spills just south of Lake Katherine, in an area that had been a “repeat offender” for such spills.
However, Shealy said the city has subsequently done some studies that showed, now that the work near Lake Katherine is completed, more sewer line capacity is needed farther south of the lake, along the section of the creek from Tall Pines Circle to Bluff Road.
“Our model recalibration with some of the new rainfall data was showing, ‘Hey, you could potentially have a problem (with sewer overflows) downstream,’” Shealy said.
The coming project would include about 1.2 miles of new pipe. Shealy said there currently is a 48-inch sewer pipe that carries wastewater along that corridor to the city’s metro sewer plant. In the upcoming project, 36-inch pipe would be laid parallel to the existing line, which would remain in service, creating a relief sewer.
“We are improving carrying capacity,” Shealy said. “That 48-inch pipe is in good shape. We are just paralleling it with the 36-inch pipe, alleviating any choke points that are throughout that entire basin. When you fix things on the upstream and push it downstream, the downstream has to be able to handle it.”
Construction on the project likely won’t begin until 2023.
The planned pipe work along Gills Creek is one of a number of sewer projects the city is engaged in as it works to address sewage spills and other infrastructure issues. For instance, it also is undertaking a roughly $16.5 million project to install new sewer pipe along a 3.9-mile section of the Lower Saluda River.
As noted in a Congaree Riverkeeper report earlier this year, the city spilled nearly a million gallons of sewage in 2020. It was a setback for the capital city which, particularly since the historic flood of 2015, had been making progress on tamping down the amount of sewage it spilled.
City officials have said exceptionally wet weather last January and February contributed to that 2020 total. Four of the city’s seven biggest spills in 2020 came in the wake of that early February flooding.
Mayor Steve Benjamin said Columbia will keep investing in its water and sewer system.
“We must continue making investments in sustainability and resilient infrastructure,” Benjamin told The State. “I think it is a move in the right direction. ... It’s not the type of investment that people find fun, but it is essential to building a vibrant, walkable, livable, resilient community. We have to keep our head down and keep making those investments.”
