COLUMBIA, S.C. — The City of Columbia leadership is looking to move forward with a $69 million wastewater improvement project that would benefit the Crane Creek community and Scout Motors.
In a Tuesday City of Columbia Council meeting, the council members heard about plans for a $69 million wastewater system project.
According to Columbia Water's Director, Clint Shealy, the city needs the project.
“As our system continues to grow, if we don't expand our carrying capacity, the waste has to go somewhere, and so this is all designed to keep the waste in the pipes and funnel it to our metro waste treatment plant," Shealy explained.
The project has been discussed as a part of the EPA decree since 2014. Columbia Water has understood that it would eventually have to increase its capacity for wastewater collection in due time, and now, with the construction of Scout Motors underway, Columbia Water’s Director Clint Shealy says now is a good time as ever to complete the project.
“It will increase the capacity in our Crane Creek basin for our wastewater collection system, so we won't have sanitary sewer overflows as growth continues in that Northeast Richland County area. It's also going to help the Smith Branch Basin and also our Rocky Branch Basin, which serves downtown Columbia because it takes some of the peaks coming off of those large infrastructure lines," Shealy stated. "Another big component of this is serving Scout Motors; that's why the project was advanced to this year's capital improvement program and moved forward to construction into the bid where we are right now.”
The funding for this almost $70 million project is coming from several different pots, including a $35 million grant from the Department of Commerce, $10 million in federal ARPA funds, and the other $34 million related to the project is coming out of the city’s wastewater budget of $63 million.
This project would increase capacity for use in areas in and around Columbia, and Shealy says it will help with overall water quality as well.
Council member Dr. Aditi Bussells says that although she voted in favor of the project, she had some pause regarding the cost.
“I would say that one of the reasons why I did end up voting in favor of it is that I appreciate that our staff was proactive and identified other dollars than just our city's budget, so the majority of it is coming from a department of commerce state grant, and that allows for us to, I think, have a little bit more flexibility in being able to fund some of these things. Yes, it is a large chunk of money for just one part of our city. As someone who represents the entire city, and I mean greater Richland County, because we have water customers there as well, it was really important for me to know exactly how this will be spent and how we chose our contractor," Dr. Bussells said.
The eight-million-gallon wastewater collection basin will be discussed twice again before the city approves the project.
The next Columbia City Council meeting will be June 18.