West Columbia water system rated ‘unsatisfactory’

West Columbia’s drinking water system received an unsatisfactory rating in a recent state inspection that outlined problems in how the city is treating water and maintaining the system.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control’s March 23 inspection said that a method of producing chlorine to disinfect water is failing at its Lake Murray plant and West Columbia officials compensated for the problem by using an unpermitted form of drinking water treatment.

DHEC’s report also said the city’s Lake Murray water plant has been poorly maintained, noting rusty feed pumps and lines.

The State newspaper received a copy of the DHEC report Wednesday evening after city officials issued a statement saying the water remains clean and safe to drink.

While saying West Columbia must address problems cited in the March 23 survey, DHEC spokeswoman Cassandra Harris said the quality of the drinking water in West Columbia has not been compromised. City officials indicated that some of the issues cited by DHEC related to last fall’s flood.

“There are no known drinking water quality violations related to our recent inspection of the West Columbia public water system at this time,’’ Harris said in an email. The email said DHEC is “currently in the process of taking appropriate actions to ensure that the deficiencies noted in the inspection report are corrected in a timely manner.”

West Columbia’s water system is smaller than the city of Columbia’s but is a major provider of drinking water in Lexington County. The West Columbia system serves some 40,000 homes and businesses. It serves the city, as well as the town of Lexington and the Red Bank area.

A 2014 water quality report did not show evidence of unsafe contaminant levels, but the city’s 2015 report won’t be available until this summer.

West Columbia in recent years switched to a new system of treating drinking water known as MIOX — which DHEC said is what caused some of the concerns. The March report by DHEC said only one of four MIOX chlorine generators is working. That limits the amount of chlorine that can be generated in a day, which raises questions about the ability to treat drinking water in times of high demand, DHEC records show.

Because of the failure of the generators, plant operators treated water with small amounts of a material known as liquid sodium hypochlorite, the DHEC report said. But the report said “this treatment was not permitted.”

West Columbia officials said they are working to maintain high quality drinking water.

“The flood of 2015 caused challenges to water plant operators across South Carolina,” the city’s statement said. “West Columbia staff has worked tirelessly with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control and consultants to ensure that our water plant processes continue to produce clean and safe drinking water for all of our water customers. DHEC continually monitors our water plant operations and we are proud that we have passed all testing requirements over the past year.”

The city has two drinking water plants, the 22.5- million-gallon-per day plant at Lake Murray and a 6-million-gallon-per-day plant on the Saluda River. The Saluda River plant fared better than the Lake Murray plant in DHEC’s inspection. The report said several areas of the Lake Murray plant were in “disarray.’’

Former West Columbia Mayor Joe Owens said the city switched to the MIOX system four to six years ago, which allowed it to discontinue the use of chlorine gas. Chlorine gas can be dangerous if it leaks into the community. He said he understands concerns about the water plant surfaced as a result of a disgruntled former city employee. Owens did not elaborate.

This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 8:20 PM with the headline "West Columbia water system rated ‘unsatisfactory’."