Lee County, SC - Drinking Water Project

Community Background

A rural community in Lee County, South Carolina has been experiencing challenges with drinking water quality and their wastewater treatment system for many years. While the latest Sanitary Survey completed by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control gave the system a “satisfactory” rating and water quality testing indicates water is safe to drink, many residents in the area are purchasing bottled water due to high iron content. Residents in this community often express concerns with the water having a brown appearance and staining their clothes after washing.

The community has a current population of around 370 and is considered disadvantaged by the federal government for meeting a number of different burden thresholds including socioeconomic, climate change, energy, health, transportation and workforce development. Approximately 88% of the community members are people of color, and the population is aging as many young residents move away. Many of the businesses and public services including local restaurants, fire department, police department, and school district have closed due to a historic lack of investment.

Community Need

The immediate need is for a drinking water expert to review the existing water treatment and distribution system to help identify potential causes of iron in the drinking water and solutions for mitigating the discoloration. Potential solutions could include but are not limited to additional operations and maintenance on the system (flushing, etc.), or addition of poly/ortho phosphate to sequester iron remaining from filtration. A cost estimate should be provided for these alternatives. Additionally, the community is interested in a high level investigation of both the technical and financial feasibility of regionalization with Florence, an adjacent community.

Project Team Needs

Subject Matter Experts are needed for this project. This includes professional engineers that have extensive experience in drinking water treatment and distribution systems, specifically in water quality and iron removal. Licensed PE in South Carolina preferred but not required.