SIMPSONVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) – The City of Simpsonville has been awarded a nearly $10 million grant to rehabilitate their sewer system.
Simpsonville City Administrator Dianna Gracely said the grant is from the South Carolina Infrastructure Investment Program, which the city applied for last year.
“We have been working on sewer rehabilitation for many years now,” Gracely said. “We have aging sewer infrastructure. This substantial grant award gets us so far beyond where we could have been on our own.”
The city said the money will help rehabilitate deteriorating clay pipes and brick manholes that were installed more than 80 years ago.
Another priority will be overflowing downstream sewers.
“It is an inflow and infiltration problem, meaning during rain events like today it’s not only the waste water going through the pipes it is all the storm water getting in there as well,” Gracely said. “When that flows to the treatment facility it quadruples the amount of wastewater that has to be treated so it is a huge problem.”
Simpsonville Public Works said they will start work in the older parts of town first.
Director Andy West said when the sewer system was installed there were no regulations.
Now his focus is to get the infrastructure up to date.
“A lot of it is lining pipes with fiberglass liner that has a pretty long life span,” West said. “It will outlast us. It seals the holes. It helps keep tree roots out of the system. All kinds of things like that.”
The city said having the funds to complete several projects will be beneficial to both Simpsonville residents and the upstate at large, at no cost to taxpayers.
“The good news for residents who live here is we have sewer user fees that are billed monthly on their Greenville water bill, Gracely said. “If we had not gotten this grant it is possible that within a few years city council would have had to look at rate increases to address these problems.”
Simpsonville Public Works say project work has already began and they expect the $10 million to be used over the next two years.
