Cathy Gilbert/Clarendon Citizen
Summerton fast tracks expansion
For nearly a decade, growth in Summerton has been paralyzed by having no capacity to treat additional wastewater. In fact, the town has been under a consent order from the S.C. Dept. of Health and Environmental Control that forbade the town from adding any additional customers to its wastewater business.
That meant there could be no additional businesses and really, no additional homes.
The end of that nightmare began to unfold on May 25 as officials from the Rural Development division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture presented a “letter of conditions” for a loan/grant package that will finance an expansion of the town’s services.
“I believe this is a historic night for the Town of Summerton as well as Clarendon County,” said Mayor Jay Bruner.
According to Bruner, the Town of Summerton and the City of Manning are working together to create a wastewater line from Summerton that will connect with a similar line in Manning. The City of Manning has agreed to sell Summerton 300,000 gallons per day (gpd) of wastewater capacity and the Town has an option to purchase an additional 250,000 gpd. Currently the Town is functioning with 349,000 gpd, so this project will potentially increase their capacity twofold.
The letter of conditions, as presented by Rusty Craven of the USDA’s Rural Development office, sets out a $1.37 million loan to be added to an already approved $800,000 loan. The proposal also adds an additional $1 million grant to an already approved $1.48 million grant. The total package of $4.66 million will include upgrades to the existing effluent pump station at Summerton’s Wastewater Treatment Plant, and the construction of a new force main and a pump station to allow for transmission of raw wastewater to the City of Manning’s collection system. It also includes upgrades to three other pump stations located throughout the town.
The Town was previously approved for a project that would have included two new spray fields. The transmission of raw wastewater to Manning is a major improvement over the spray field method of handling wastewater, according to Bruner.
“I realize we are obligating the town to a fair amount of money,” said Bruner. “But we must make this leap of faith if we are to move the Town of Summerton forward.”
Bruner recalled the difficulties the town had in permitting the DuBose Medical Clinic.
“This is monumental,” he added. “This sets the stage for Summerton’s future and is a very good thing, I believe.”
