BATESBURG-LEESVILLE, S.C. — A long-term water infrastructure project was approved this week for residents in Batesburg-Leesville. It's going to completely change the town's water source.
After nearly a decade, a new 40-year partnership between the Joint Municipal Water and Sewer Commission and the Town of Batesburg-Leesville is starting.
Back in 2013, the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) issued a consent order requiring town leaders get a more reliable water source.
"We've got to have the infrastructure in place to be able to supply new neighborhoods with water, new businesses with water and sewer," said town manager Ted Luckadoo.
In the area of the Batesburg-Leesville Industrial Park is where the water transmission line from Joint Municipal Water will connect to the town.
The town is in charge of connecting this new 10-mile long water pipeline from Cheyenne Trail into town, impacting about 3,000 residents.
Joint Municipal will pay for water pumps and a new water storage tank facility.
"We're going to be able to construct a new water transmission main from the western side of Joint Municipal's service area to the eastern side of Batesburg-Leesville service area, and we will wholesale supply potable drinking water to the town for its existing customers and for some growth in the foreseeable future," said Jay Nicholson, general manger for the Joint Municipal Water and Sewer Commission.
Once everything new is up and running, the town will decommission its water treatment plant that filtered pond water into drinkable water - its original water source.
"During the peak summer months when more water is being used, that pond has begun to get lower and lower every summer," Luckadoo said.
The town said after the 10-month period of designs, environmental assessment and surveying, it will get funding from local water and sewer sales, and possibly through state and federal grants.
The new water system is expected to be fully implemented in the next two to three years.