School pollution draining toward Congaree National Park

Several Richland County schools with a checkered history of following pollution laws have been cited for releasing contaminated wastewater into creeks that drain to Congaree National Park.

Richland County District 1 must pay $17,400 in fines and eliminate existing discharges from the schools as part of an enforcement agreement announced this week by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Tests from 2013 through early 2015 showed the schools released unpermitted levels of either ammonia or fecal coliform bacteria, which can cause algae blooms and make swimming unsafe. Hopkins Elementary, Hopkins Middle and Gadsden Elementary schools have aging wastewater systems blamed for the illicit discharges.

It isn’t known how the discharges affected creeks inside Congaree National Park, but state regulators said the district needs to clean up its act. Records show that Hopkins middle and elementary schools have discharge violations dating to the 1990s.

“The three schools need to upgrade their treatment or eliminate their discharges,” agency spokeswoman Cassandra Harris said in an email Tuesday.

Enforcement orders show that District 1 prefers to tie in with a regional sewer system being developed for lower Richland County, instead of upgrading the small 1970s-era wastewater systems.

Attempts to reach district spokeswoman Karen York were unsuccessful.

According to DHEC enforcement orders against the district:

▪  Hopkins Middle exceeded discharge limits for ammonia and fecal coliform in the Cedar Creek watershed. Multiple violations occurred in 2013, 2014 and 2015. DHEC’s fine for those discharges is $8,400. Cedar Creek runs through Congaree National Park.

▪  Hopkins Elementary exceeded discharge limits for ammonia and fecal coliform in the Cabin Creek watershed. Multiple violations occurred in 2014. DHEC’s fine for those discharges is $5,600.

▪  Gadsden Elementary exceeded discharge limits for ammonia in the Cedar Creek watershed. Multiple violations occurred in 2013 and 2014. DHEC’s fine for those discharges is $3,400.

The regional system, touted as a way to eliminate such problems, is a point of contention in lower Richland County because of its potential cost. Some taxpayers, who rely on septic tanks, say it’s too expensive for them to pay for sewer service. The county is holding meetings to discuss the system, including one that was scheduled Tuesday night.

Still, plans for the system continue to move ahead and DHEC records show that it should be operational by sometime next year.

Congaree Riverkeeper Bill Stangler, a proponent of regional sewer, said the pollution problems are no surprise.

His organization documented nearly 40 discharge violations at Hopkins elementary and middle schools between July 2011 and May 2014, The State newspaper reported last October.

“These are serious violations going on and this has to be fixed,” Stangler said. “It confirms what folks have been saying all along, which is we have wastewater infrastructure problems with these lower Richland schools. A clear way forward is tying them in with the regional system. This affects the state’s only national park.”

Congaree National Park is widely recognized for its towering old-growth forest, extensive wetland flood plain and glassy, tea-colored creeks. The 27,000-acre nature preserve attracts about 100,000 visitors a year.

But the park’s signature stream, Cedar Creek, has in recent years come under siege from wastewater discharges and chemicals that are flowing south from developed areas near Columbia, federal and state researchers say.

The threat has been noticeable enough that DHEC placed Cedar Creek on a state list of polluted waterways last year. Not only are failing sewage plants, old septic tanks and runoff from farms of concern, but so are legal discharges from large wastewater facilities that are not set up to filter out certain chemicals.