Ware Shoals scraps original sewer project plans
A more than $1.5 million sewer line project in Ware Shoals needs retooling after problems arose with the original design work.
When the 2016 Greenwood County Capital Project Sales Tax passed, one of 27 projects slated for funding was to replace certain sewer lines and refurbish a pump station near Carnell Bridge in Ware Shoals. Before work could start, the town had to find an engineering firm to look at the existing lines and figure out how best to upgrade that system.
John Lake, owner of L&L Environmental in Ware Shoals and a regular advisor to town officials, said they originally worked with Dunn & Associates out of Anderson for the design work. An engineer there worked up a plan for the project, which Lake said was submitted to the state and construction permits were approved.
As staff went through revisions, though, the project seemed to get out of hand, and there were issues with the plan that couldn’t seem to be resolved, Lake said. He paid North Carolina-based Frazier Engineering $5,000 for a report giving its opinion on the project plan designed by Dunn.
Frazier’s report said the plan seemed incomplete, and that it couldn’t be built or bid.
“We finally came to the conclusion this had come to an end,” Lake said. “There was no way to resolve the situation.”
The original plan had to be scrapped. Town Clerk Randee Beasley said the town spent $253,725 from 2018-21 on that initial design work.
In its place, Lake said the town had to go through the process of finding a new engineering firm. Of the firms that reached out, Frazier seemed the best qualified as it specializes in sewer system work.
Lake said Frazier implied the project could be out to bid sooner, with a plan that seems more environmentally sound and more cost-effective. Ware Shoals Town Council voted Aug. 16 to move forward with Frazier’s plan.
Although a preliminary engineering report has to be done, Lake said the new plan would avoid outright replacing in-ground pipes, and instead do a mix of repairing existing above-ground lines, re-sleeving underground lines and replacing only what needs to be replaced. He also said this new plan would avoid putting a new pump station near the banks of the Saluda River, which would have posed a potential environmental hazard in the event of future pump problems.
It’s also a race against a possible market bump. As the next round of federal infrastructure dollars makes its way into communities, there’s little certainty that construction and material costs will stay at current levels.
“We think this way we’ve proposed will be the best way to proceed,” Lake said.
None of the $1,569,339 of CPST funds allocated in October 2019 have been spent. All the engineering costs to Dunn and Frazier have been paid by the town of Ware Shoals, said Josh Skinner, CPST coordinator.
Lake is set to attend the next Greenwood County Council meeting to explain the situation to council, and with their blessing move forward with re-designing and bidding out the Carnell Bridge sewer project. Skinner said CPST funds will be used to pay for construction, and could be used to pay for the engineering services if the town asked.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on: Aug 26, 2022
By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ Demianddominguez@indexjournal.com