Court asked to OK hookup to reduce sewage spills in lower Saluda River

Carolina Water Service has gone to court seeking a hookup to a regional sewer network that the utility says will end its sewage spills into the lower Saluda River.

The company wants the town of Lexington to be ordered to provide the connection or, alternately, the right to negotiate with Lexington’s partner in the system, the city of Cayce.

The lawsuit in U.S. District Court, announced Monday, comes after town officials warned it is impossible to provide the hookup.

Restrictions in a loan obtained to build the town’s share of the regional network and an operation agreement with Cayce both bar the connection of nonpublic sources, Lexington Mayor Steve MacDougall said.

“To walk in Monday to a lawsuit is kind of a shock,” he said.

The hookup would send 800,000 gallons of sewage daily into the network through Lexington from Carolina Water’s plant in Oak Grove, under fire for spills polluting the river.

State environmental officials are pressing Carolina Water to reduce pollution in a river popular for outdoor recreation.

Lexington officials want to acquire the utility’s 3,300 water and sewer customers in two areas near town, saying that move would prevent pollution. “We thought negotiations were moving in the right direction,” MacDougall said.

But Carolina Water Service officials continue to say no to a sale.

Pressure to end pollution is being “used as a lever” by town officials to expand their service along the river and south shore of Lake Murray, utility spokesman Tom Oakley said.