Capital Improvements
Pelham Regional Treatment Plant
The Pelham Regional Treatment Plant construction was completed, upgrading the plant capacity from 7.5 million gallons per day (MGD) to 22.5 MGD in order to accommodate its growing service area. With this greater capacity, the Pelham facility will also be able to serve the Taylors area, allowing Western Carolina to take the Taylors plant out of service. The project also included the addition of filtration and ultraviolet disinfection in order to provide tertiary water quality. The Pelham plant is now the second largest facility in Western Carolina’s system.
Enoree River Trunk Line
The Enoree River Trunk Line project was completed, adding a three-mile sewer conveyance system that will assist in allowing the Taylors plant to be decommissioned by conveying flow from the Taylors area to the Pelham treatment plant.
Lower Reedy Treatment Plant
The Lower Reedy treatment plant expansion was completed, taking the plant’s capacity from 7.5 MGD to 11.5 MGD in order to meet future capacity needs in the service area and adding filtration and ultraviolet disinfection in order to provide tertiary water quality.
Durbin Creek Treatment Plant
Due to projected residential and industrial growth in the Durbin Creek service area, Western Carolina is upgrading the capacity of this plant to 5.2 MGD. The project also includes the addition of filtration and ultraviolet disinfection to produce tertiary water quality.
Sewer Line Rehabilitation
To keep the sewer system in the best possible condition, Western Carolina conducts ongoing maintenance projects to reverse the damage created by normal deterioration of underground components. WCRSA committed $8 million to rehabilitation work this past year, focusing on portions of the areas served by the Gilder Creek, Durbin Creek, Pelham, Taylors, Mauldin and Lower Reedy facilities. Rehabilitation will continue in 2008 in other parts of the Western Carolina service area.
Mauldin Road Treatment Plant
Construction continued on this project to upgrade the Mauldin Road facility, Western Carolina’s largest, to meet stricter permit limits set by SCDHEC. The project includes new filters, as well as the addition of ultraviolet disinfection, increased aeration capacity and additional biosolids facilities.
Grove Creek Pump Station & Force Main
The Grove Creek Pump Station and Force Main is being constructed to divert effluent discharge from Grove Creek to the Saluda River. This project was designed to take the Grove Creek treatment plant out of service and divert the flows to the new Piedmont Regional treatment plant.
Gilder Creek Treatment Plant
Due to continued development in the area served by the Gilder Creek treatment plant, preliminary planning and engineering was begun for expanding the plant’s capacity above the current 8 MGD. Construction is expected to begin during 2008.
Administration Building
Construction was started on a new consolidated, energy-efficient building to replace other separate, aging and maintenance-intensive facilities that housed the engineering, customer service, human resources, accounting, administration, purchasing and pre-treatment departments.
Piedmont Regional Treatment Plant
Construction is scheduled to begin during 2008 on the Piedmont Regional treatment plant, which will replace the existing Grove Creek and Piedmont plants.
Green Energy Project
Preliminary planning and engineering is currently under way to facilitate the re-use of methane, which is generated as a by-product of the wastewater treatment process, as an alternative “green” source of energy. Potential future uses for our methane gas include power generation, building heating or vehicle fuel. This project will reduce our dependency on traditional fossil fuel sources.