Environmental group tours water plant, reassured by findings

By David W. Smith

Twenty members of Sun City’s Lowcountry Environmental Action group learned a lot about our drinking water on a recent tour of the Beaufort Jasper Water and Sewer Authority’s Chelsea water treatment facility.

Brian Chemsak, chief of plant operations, held a classroom presentation of the history of BJWSA and gave an overview of the various aspects of the business – with a focus on how our drinking water is processed.

Mark Ferrell, chief water operator, then led a plant tour showing the numerous processes required to turn water from the Savannah River, the primary source, into clean, safe drinking water. A four-step process of flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection takes 5 to 12 hours to complete.

BJWSA follows the standards set in the Clean Drinking Water Act by the Environmental Protection Agency and the regulations of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. They consider these regulations and standards as the minimum and always strive to exceed them.

The nonprofit authority runs 24/7/365 each year, with technicians running hourly tests to assure quality standards are being met. Emergency contingency plans are in place to make sure clean water keeps flowing, even during hurricanes.

BJWSA is confident that the numerous lakes which flow into the river will continue to supply the water needed to satisfy our needs long into the future. Plans are well underway to upgrade the processing capacity to handle the growth projected for the Lowcountry.

Our area uses 18-30 million gallons a day. Summer lawn irrigation accounts for half of our water usage. We can help ensure an uninterrupted drinking water supply by cooperating with BJWSA’s request: Please avoid irrigation from 3 to 9 a.m., and stagger usage. Even-numbered addresses are asked to irrigate Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Odd-numbered addresses are asked to irrigate Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Mondays are “no irrigation days” to accommodate for the very high water demands typically experienced on Mondays. Installing a rain sensor will rapidly pay for itself with lower water bills while saving water.

Sustainability of our environment is very important to BJWSA. Their eight wastewater facilities treat about 10 million gallons of wastewater every day. Half of it is treated in the Great Swamp, where BJWSA owns 1100 acres of lowland floodplain. They are working there to restore land that had been heavily timbered by planting tens of thousands of trees to increase its capacity as a carbon sink.

LEA members left the tour feeling confident in the overall operation and the quality of our drinking water. They strongly recommend the tour to others.