For decades, sewage bubbled to creek near SC’s Saluda River. Here’s why it stopped
An old sewage pipe that for years discharged wastewater into a tributary of the Saluda River has been shut down as part of a more than 30 year-old plan to remove all pollution discharges from the state scenic river.
Lexington officials said the town recently stopped using the pipe from the Watergate treatment plant and Lexington will route sewage to a regional wastewater facility in Cayce.
The effort is a milestone in the long-running effort to protect the lower Saluda from sewage discharges. It marks the third major discharge eliminated from the river in the past five years, leaving only three more to be pulled from the Saluda under the plan.
In this case, the town acquired the Watergate system in 2020 from Blue Granite Water Co,, formerly Carolina Water Service. The idea was to eventually stop the discharge of treated wastewater and send the Watergate waste to the regional system, thereby protecting the Saluda. Discharges were going to Fourteen Mile Creek, one of the lower Saluda’s major tributaries.
“Years and years ago, everyone looked at the lower Saluda and said ‘This is an outstanding water body in our state and we should get rid of the discharges,’‘’ said Bill Stangler, the riverkeeper for the lower Saluda, the Congaree and the Broad rivers. “It’s been real slow progress, but we’ve seen progress pick up in the last several years.’’
In 1990, a special task force recommended eliminating wastewater discharges to the lower Saluda River. A renewed push by river advocates in recent years — including a federal lawsuit — succeeded in getting two other Blue Granite discharges out of the river at Interstate 20 and the Friarsgate community in Irmo.
Those plants discharged treated sewage, which in itself was a concern because river advocates say even treated wastewater contains some pollution. But the plants also regularly violated pollution limits.
In one 2016 case, poorly treated discharges from the Friarsgate plant prompted warnings against swimming in the lower Saluda because the pollution increased chances people would get sick. The warnings lasted for weeks, including the July 4 holiday, a time when kayaking and swimming peaks in the river.
Now, the Watergate discharge has stopped. The Watergate plant, which serves about 1,100 customers, also had its share of spills and leaks, including problems earlier this year.
Wastewater from the 290,000-gallon-per day plant will be routed to the regional system, which will treat the sewage and discharge it into the Congaree. The Congaree, which separates Columbia from Cayce and West Columbia, receives much of the treated sewage from the area.
Unlike the Congaree, the lower Saluda is a state designated scenic river. Running about 10 miles from Lake Murray to the Congaree River, the lower Saluda contains a series of whitewater rapids that attract kayakers from across the South.
The river, fed by frigid water from Lake Murray, is so cold it supports a trout population in an area not historically known for trout, a species common in the southern Blue Ridge mountains. The Saluda is unusual in that it is one of the few places in South Carolina where Spanish moss, a Lowcountry plant, grows along a river that supports trout, a mountain species.
The Watergate discharges have been eliminated as part of an $18 million project, funded in part by the federal American Rescue Plan.
“We are pleased,’’ Lexington town spokeswoman Laurin Barnes said. “This is the culmination of years of work.’’
The discharges that still are targeted for elimination are owned by companies other than Blue Granite.
This story was originally published July 25, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
