HOLLY HILL, S.C. — The Town of Holly Hill is in need of a new wastewater treatment plant. Town officials says the current plant is at capacity.
“We can handle up to almost 300,000 gallons," said Holly Hill Mayor Billy Chavis. "The problem is on our dry days we're great. On our wet days, when its raining, our system potentially can get up to 2 million gallons a day when its raining.”
Now, the town is looking to purchase two acres beside the current plant, which has been approved by DHEC.
Chavis says the current plant was not properly maintained, which continues to burden the town.
“Proper maintenance was not done and pumps get worn out, get worn to exhaustion instead of having brand news pumps ready to go and replace the pumps," said Mayor Chavis. "When the pumps go out, it’s a great impact on the community because in a small rural community you don’t have the funding to go in and always make major repairs to systems whenever they completely malfunction.”
William Myers grew up in Holly Hill. He says this plant is crucial for growth for the town.
“For the town to grow and move in the direction its going, if you don’t go with growth, you will be left behind," said Myers. "So, its very important that this plant be built and to compensate for all the growth that’s coming to Holly Hill.”
Mayor Chavis says the new plant will come at no cost to residents.
“The price is going to be passed on to the developers through impact fees. They're the ones who is going to help pay for this system, it’s not going to cost the people of Holly Hill anything," Chavis said. "So, essentially to stop us from going bankrupt, which we’ve been on the verge of going bankrupt because of this system, we’re going to put that on the backs of the developers to pay these impact fees to help pay for a brand new wastewater treatment plant.”
Engineers are still in the design phase and estimated costs should be finalized around November.
Town officials say their current timeline has the new plant operating in early 2026.