EASTOVER, S.C. — A bit of relief for many in Eastover after months of concerns over their water quality.
Bruce Edwards, a resident of Eastover, describes the headache he faced when the town was having water issues in late 2022
"They were handing out flyers saying boil the water because something was wrong with the system, low pressure, sometimes the water was off, " he said.
According to Eastover Mayor Philip Gunter, during the colder months, the town saw around 20 different leaks on water mains in the town
"The system was kinda dirty, so we had to a lot of hydrant flushing, " said the mayor.
Those issues got SCDHEC attention.
An enforcement order from December claims a team from DHEC rated the town 'unsatisfactory' for drinking water and said it 'needed improvement' in areas such as protection from contamination and source quality.
Gunter says it's been a team effort trying to improve those scores.
In a Thursday DHEC board meeting, members touted a recent EPA survey that gave the agency good marks for South Carolina's water quality.
Gunter says the town's water quality is back to DHEC's standards.
"They did their job, they wanted us to do our job as well and let it be known that it's serious out there." He says, "The water is pretty good right now, we've had a lot of success with the water."
Gunter adds crews have been working hard since the winter to get back on track.
"Making sure the line pumps and different things like that are working properly. During the winter storm things like that burst and got destroyed, some parts got broken, pipes got broken, all inside the well. I can say we're about 90%, we still got some really small things that we got to work on that's going to take some outside help to come in," said the mayor.
Edwards admits he is still a bit weary of the tap water, but for Mayor Gunter, consuming the town's tap water is something he does daily.
"I trust the water, I drink the water."