Water and Sewer
March 11, 2015
By Temple Ligon
Columbia City Council met Tuesday, March 10, at 10:00 a.m. for its work session, which flowed almost seamlessly into a regular council meeting. Typically council meets at 2:00 p.m. on the first and the third Tuesday of the month for its work session and later that day at 6:00 for its regular meeting. Water and sewer, however, is such a pressing issue, council must flex to resolve.
For all of 2014, the city produced 20.9 billion gallons of drinking water and treated 13.3 billion gallons of sewage. Counting both the people in the city and beyond the city limits, the city has 139,444 water customers and 59,829 sewer customers.
With all that money coming in from water and sewer bills, the Coble administration spent water and sewer money on things not connected to maintaining water and sewer systems to a point beyond fiscal responsibility. In other words, blame the previous administration for the conditions Benjamin inherited.
The water and sewer operating budget for FY 2014-2015 is $127,585,095.
The city adopted a resolution in 2013 that capped the transfer from water and sewer to the general fund at 5% of the budgeted revenues. A more profligate resolution had been in effect since 1993.
Still, Columbia doesn’t have it so bad. While the Columbia home inside the city limits pays $16.85 for a 6,000-gallon water bill, in Lexington the tab comes in at $31.65. The bill for 6,000 gallons in sewer treatment, $31.11, compares favorably with Charleston’s $71.17, also inside the city limits.
In May 2014, the city signed a consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, agreeing to major improvements, maybe $750 million worth, in its wastewater treatment system over the next 10 years. If the city fails to perform, the EPA could take over the system.
John Adams, a declared candidate for Cameron Runyan’s at-large council seat, says the Lower Saluda, Lower Broad and Congaree Rivers in 2014 had 1.6 million gallons in sanitary sewer overflows, a number often cited by Congaree Riverkeeper Bill Stangler. Such overflows resulted in the consent decree.
According to the Free Times, the city has a daily sanitary sewer capacity of 60 million gallons, which is reassuring in that the city treats about 35 million gallons a day. Capacity appears not to be the problem, but a poorly maintained system of 1,000 miles of sewer pipe is.
Possibly as early as this summer, the city’s water and sewer customers inside city limits could see a 12% monthly rate hike, or about $6. The residents outside the city limits but city customers all the same, can expect a monthly rate increase of $10.
Another possibility by summer is just a 6% rate hike, but if and only if the fewer dollars can still meet the EPA minimum standard.
Further discussion is planned for March 17, while a first vote is due in April. Whatever rate hike is put into play by April’s vote, it will be the first of five years of consecutive rate hikes. No one is altogether sure what the overdue repairs will cost.
