BAMBERG - An initiative designed to meet the dual goals of economic development and improvement in quality of life is now entering a new phase - the search for funding.

Bamberg County officials hope the spirit of cooperation exhibited earlier this year by municipalities, the county and the Bamberg Board of Public Works will pave the way for creating a regional water and sewer authority.

Bamberg County commissioned Alliance Consulting Engineers Inc. to evaluate the current condition of each public water and wastewater system in the county and determine the feasibility of forming a county-wide system. The finalized study was completed in November 2007.

During the course of 2008, Bamberg County Administrator Rose Dobson-Elliott and County Council Chairman Chris Wilson presented the results of the study to council members in Bamberg, Denmark, Ehrhardt, Govan, Olar, and to the Bamberg Board of Public Works in what has proven to be a successful attempt at collaboration.

Wilson says the initiative has the potential of being one of the biggest undertakings in the county "ever since I can remember."

"The hallmark of this situation is that all entities are now working and moving forward together," Wilson said. "This level of cooperation between the governmental bodies and water and wastewater providers bodes well for the future of Bamberg County."

"The first thing we'll have to work out is how to put a regional water and wastewater authority at little or no cost to the taxpayer," he said. "We'll look at any and all funding avenues possible, including sources at the state and federal level and even private-public partnerships - whatever is feasible. We want to do this in the best interest of everyone involved."

Wilson said the first goal of a regional authority is providing potable water and wastewater treatment to the residents of Bamberg County, although that may have to be accomplished in phases.

"There will be a number of immediate benefits of a regional authority to people in the outlying areas of the county," he said. "These include opening up residential, commercial and industrial areas of growth and investment. Another benefit would be fire insurance rate reduction for home and business owners because a regional water and wastewater authority would provide the county fire service with a consistent water source."

Bamberg County Fire Service Director Brenna Hancock said a regional water and sewer authority could provide the potential for vast Insurance Services Office rating improvements for many of the county's nine fire departments.

"The main problem with a number of our fire departments, such as Govan, is there is a lack of a consistent water source and lack of water pressure," Hancock said. "Water supply is 40 percent of the available public protective classification score (ISO rating) for a community. Once the regional water system is complete, however, people living within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant will get the same rating as the fire department in whose district they are located."

Hancock says the current ISO ratings in the county are: city of Bamberg, 4; Denmark, 5; Olar, 6; Ehrhardt, 8; Little Swamp, Hunter's Chapel, Clear Pond, Colston, 9, and Govan, 10. However, the ISO ratings for the Govan and Olar volunteer fire departments could both improve once the water system being constructed between the two towns is completed sometime around July 2009.

Rep. Bakari Sellers, who says this is first and foremost a unification project that he feels can help bring in $30 million in economic development, sees it consisting of three phases.

"We have completed the first stage in doing the study, which was funded by the state Department of Commerce, and it was a coup because we got everyone in the municipalities and the county on board," Sellers said. "The second phase is securing the funding.

"During the middle of this month, I will approach (6th District) Congressman Clyburn and Sen. Lindsey Graham in Washington. Both men called me after they saw what we were doing and said that they could begin to help us upon completion of the study. The third phase of the project would be consolidating the existing water and wastewater infrastructure along U.S. 78 and then gradually expanding that to the rest of the county."

"Besides economic development, the second selling point for the existing water and sewer providers is that none would lose revenue," Sellers said. "At the very least, they would be able to buy cheaper and sell at the same rate. My dream is to move it forward. Bamberg is one of two counties in the state that is losing population, and this will help us to improve the quality of life here. We actually have some people in the county right now with no potable water."

The study noted that all existing public water systems, except Denmark, are expected to have excess water capacity through 2030. A combined 2.1-million-gallon-per-day capacity of wastewater treatment between the three existing purveyors in Bamberg, Denmark and Ehrhardt would also result in surplus capacity of more than 233,000 MGD by 2030.

"There is also the possibility that we could use a regional water and sewer authority as a revenue enhancer because we could get into the situation where we could finally sell our surplus to another county," said Sellers, who noted more funding could be forthcoming from Commerce since Bamberg is designated as a depressed county.

"This money is not pork barrel spending but a way to improve quality of life in poor, rural America," he said.

Bamberg County Chamber of Commerce President Ronnie Maxwell said his organization views a regional water and wastewater authority as necessary.

"The Bamberg County Chamber of Commerce supports any effort to improve and modernize our county-wide infrastructure for residential, commercial and industrial development," Maxwell said. "We encourage our citizens to work together on both the local and regional levels to prepare for future growth."

T&D Staff Writer Phil Sarata can be reached by e-mail at psarata@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5540.

You must be logged in to comment.