Greer Commission of Public Works (CPW) is seeking an agreement with Renewable Water Resources (ReWa) to partner in providing sewer services to a southern part of Greer in Spartanburg County.
CPW commissioners held a special meeting Friday to adopt a resolution allowing General Manager Randy Olson to negotiate and implement an agreement with ReWa.
Commissioners Eugene Gibson and Jeff Howell voted for the agreement. Commissioner Perry Williams was out of town.
At issue is CPW owning sewer lines in the area where housing developments are near completion and ReWa able to service those communities more efficiently. Developers could not receive a certificate of occupancy until the dilemma was resolved. The resolution is temporary until the legislature adopts the agreement, either this legislative session or in 2015.
“Because the property is in Spartanburg County we had to involve ReWa and the county legislators to help us move forward,” said commission chairman Gibson. “It would remove the cloud over whose responsibility or privilege it is to service the area.”
The resolution states, “ReWa is willing to provide wastewater treatment services to the City and Greer CPW to these projects with the condition that the flow from these projects is delivered to ReWa for transportation and treatment pursuant to its rules and regulations . . . “
CPW has the sewer lines in place but pumping the sewage against gravity (higher elevations) is cost prohibitive. ReWa has the means to treat the sewage but does not have the infrastructure. Thus the agreement will enable each entity to share these services for current and future developments in that area.
“When you deal with sewer you deal with flows by gravity. Higher to lower flows by gravity is normal,” Gibson said.
“Property was being annexed lower than our treatment plant. Some of those we were able to handle by pump stations, to pump back up over the hill to our treatment plant. But then some of this property on Westmoreland Road began to be developed and it was totally unfeasible for us to pump that material back to our treatment plant,” Gibson said.
Commissioners said the problem came to a head when a developer was seeking an occupancy permit but couldn’t without a sewer agreement. ReWa took the position it was outside its service area. Gibson explained ReWa did service one area, possibly by oversight, and thus had to correct the situation.
Gibson said the legislature will define both utilities’ roles in relation to the subdivisions and other property.