Lake City wastewater treatment plant upgrades wrapping up; more in the pipeline

LAKE CITY — The Lake Swamp Wastewater Treatment Plant's new laboratory is taking shape.

The outer shell of the building is complete. Inside, the lab, conference room, bathrooms, break room and conference room have been roughed in.

The lab will be the final piece in the city's $10.5 million upgrade to the Lake Swamp Wastewater Treatment Plant, Lake City's Director of Public Works and Utility Service Director Ricky Sims said. It should be completed in October or November.

"We are running a little bit behind because of the supply chain. About everything we are doing now — something, somewhere is holding us up because we are not able to get it," Sims said.

Planning for the Lake Swamp Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrades started in 2019. Construction started in 2021 after BRW Construction of Garden City, Ga. was awarded the construction contract.

The $10.5 million project is financed by the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which is administered by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. The state of South Carolina and Environmental Protection Agency also has provided renovation money, City Administrator William Hall said.

The Lake Swamp Wastewater Treatment Plant was built in 1981. This is its first major upgrade.

Laboratory renovations started in July 2022.

The lab conducts tests to ensure treated water is environmentally safe and a total suspended solids test to ensure it meets federal and state requirements. The cost of the renovation and expansion is $1.5 million.

GMK Associates Design/Build Division is in charge of the design and construction of the laboratory.

The treatment plant and lab renovations will improve the quality of the wastewater released into Lynches River, said Lake City Laboratory Technician LaPortia Brown.

"We clean the water up and there are various tests we have to do before depositing into Lynches River," she said.

Test results are reported to the Department of Health and Environmental Control on a monthly basis.

The new lab will have updated testing equipment, which will make testing procedures easier, Brown said.

Brown has been a lab technician at the Lake Swamp Wastewater Treatment Plant for 26 years. It will be exciting to get into a more spacious lab with new equipment, she said.

The $10.5 million project also involves construction of two aeriation basins and replacement of aging equipment. Wastewater Treatment Plant renovations should be completed in August or September.

"We are getting into the final stages now. A little bit of the piping and paving is left. We already have some of the treatment processes online. We already have them in service to see how they are going to work," Sims said.

Sims said he will be glad to have the wastewater treatment plant renovations completed, but three other wastewater improvement projects are in the works.

The city recently received an $8.4 million South Carolina Infrastructure Investment Program grant. It is part of $1.369 billion in Rural Infrastructure funding to more than 200 communities across South Carolina, which will help provide clean drinking water, sanitary sewer and stormwater resilience.

In the next 18 months to two years, the city will work on projects that will increase capacity and reduce infiltration and inflow of stormwater into the wastewater treatment plant, Sims said.

Lake City will use:

• $3.045 million for sewer system rehabilitation including a new pump station serving the Cole Road/Davis Street area

• $3.075 million in sewer system rehabilitation at Martha Law Estates

• $3.765 million for wastewater treatment plant headworks improvements

"That's what we will be working on next," Sims said.

The city applied for the grant in June 2022 to address existing wastewater issues and to make improvements and repairs to prevent future problems. The total cost of the projects is $9,885 million, and the city must match 15 percent of the funding.

"We received a $1 million state revolving fund principal forgiveness loan which goes a long way to providing our matching funds," Hall said "Those funds will not have to be paid back as long as the city completes its obligations in the projects. However, that still leaves $482,750 that the city must come up with and is one of the reasons we increased our water rates."

These next project will modernize and upgrade critical facilities to keep our city healthy and prepare for future growth, Hall said. The forgiveness loan goes a long way to helping the city address its infrastructure issues with a minimal cost to the community.

Reach Chris Day at 843-614-0100. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisDayosu.

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