HOPKINS, S.C. — Richland County Council is working on a $28-million project to build a new sewer system for three Lower Richland schools. This comes after DHEC issued three citations to Richland School District One for water pollution caused by the schools. The penalties have added up to $17,400.
"When the kids are flushing the toilets, the human waste is going directly into the cesspools that are on the grounds of Gadsden Elementary, Hopkins Elementary, and Hopkins Middle School," Richland County Vice-Chair Dalhi Myers said.
Myers said the cesspools at Gadsden Elementary, Hopkins Elementary, and Hopkins Middle School are poisoning areas of the ground in the Lower Richland area.
"We developed a plan that doesn't have lift stations in people's back yards, and it's not mandatory," Myers explained. "If you don't want to be on the system, you don't have to be. If you want to get on the system, you don't have a $4,000 tap fee."
Each system has a permit with DHEC, but documents showed in 2015, DHEC issued three consent orders to Richland One after each system failed to comply with wastewater discharge protocols. The cesspools were built when the schools were. Myers believes pushback from the original sewer project may have caused the delay in installing the new systems.
"The plan to put a system in that area has been there for some time," said Richland One Superintendent Dr. Craig Witherspoon. "We're pleased it's now moving forward."
The school district also paid a $7,200 DHEC consent order for the Gadsden Elementary Waste Treatment Site in 2008.
Witherspoon says the project's completion gets the school district out of the sewer business and allows them to focus all of their attention on what's important, the students' education.
"It also gets us away from the DHEC consent," Dr. Witherspoon explained. "That we would do everything we can to maintain these systems but tie in when a new system is available."
The project is more than halfway complete and should be ready by some time 2021. DHEC says they are continuing to work with the Richland One to bring effluence discharge into compliance.