Santee Cooper Regional Water System Turns 20
October 29, 2014
MONCKS CORNER, SC – Tri-county officials joined Santee Cooper today to toast the 20th anniversary of the Santee Cooper Regional Water System with a ceremony at its water treatment plant near Moncks Corner.
The idea of using the Santee Cooper Lakes as a wholesale source of water stretches back more than 30 years. It was a process that required a 1987 amendment to Santee Cooper’s enabling legislation and the 1992 creation of the Lake Moultrie Water Agency, a joint-municipal water agency comprised of Berkeley County Water & Sanitation, the city of Goose Creek, Moncks Corner Public Works Commission, and the Summerville Commissioners of Public Works.
Goose Creek Mayor Michael Heitzler, who also serves as chairman of the Lake Moultrie Water Agency, said the Santee Cooper Regional Water System has been one of the best examples of public-entity cooperation that he’s seen in his career and would hold it up as a model for the state.
“Nothing has been more important to the development of our community than this water system. Without that water, you don’t have development like Google, Nucor, Alcoa, Nexton, Crowfield Plantation or Cane Bay,” Heitzler said. “You look at Carnes Crossroads: That wouldn’t be here without the Santee Cooper Regional Water System, and nobody up there building and developing can fully appreciate what that water treatment plant has meant to us.”
“What we’re celebrating here today is the perseverance of the Lake Moultrie Water Agency and the achievements its members have made together and will make in the future,” said Lonnie Carter, Santee Cooper President and CEO. “You remained united in your common goal to provide reliable, affordable water to our communities. Dependable water is crucial not only to our individual health and quality of life — it is also critical to business, tourism and all the other activities that provide us jobs and a good economic base.”
Santee Cooper announced plans for the Santee Cooper Regional Water System in July 1991 with a capacity of 24-million gallons of water per day (mgd) and 23 miles of pipeline. The following spring, the Santee Cooper Board of Directors approved the construction and operation of a water treatment plant on the shore of Lake Moultrie near Moncks Corner.
Construction on the water treatment plant began in February 1993, and the first water was drawn from Lake Moultrie and treated on Aug. 11, 1994. The Santee Cooper Regional Water System delivered its first water to the Lake Moultrie Water Agency’s four members Sept. 20-26, and it entered commercial operation on Oct. 1, 1994.
Under its agreement with Santee Cooper, the Lake Moultrie Water Agency owns 100 percent of the water treatment plant’s capacity and sells it to the four agency members.
The Santee Cooper Regional Water System set an all-time peak demand record of 27.4-mgd on June 11, 2011, and afterwards began evaluating its capacity requirements. In anticipation of continued growth in the tri-county area, the Santee Cooper Regional Water System is undergoing a two-phase upgrade that will increase its capacity by 16-mgd to 40-mgd. It’s on pace to be finished in 2017.
The expansion builds on a solid 20 years of operations that have been recognized by organizations like the Partnership for Safe Water who has awarded the Santee Cooper Regional Water System its Directors Award every year since 1999 along with its 5-year, 10-year and 15-year Directors Award in 2004, 2009, and 2014. The system was also recently recognized for producing the state’s “Best Tasting Water” by the S.C. Rural Water Association — joining sister system the Lake Marion Regional Water System, which won the award in 2012.
“Santee Cooper’s mission is to improve the quality of life of the people of South Carolina. We did it first with jobs and electricity, which also created the state’s largest freshwater resource in the Santee Cooper Lakes,” Carter said. “It makes sense that all that water should be tapped for additional benefit.”
Santee Cooper is South Carolina’s largest power producer, the largest Green Power generator and the ultimate source of electricity for 2 million people across the state. Through its low-cost, reliable and environmentally responsible electricity and water services, and through innovative partnerships and initiatives that attract and retain industry and jobs, Santee Cooper powers South Carolina. To learn more, visit www.santeecooper.com
