State DHEC grants Walhalla an extension

South Carolina DHEC has given Walhalla an additional 16 months to build its new water treatment plant at Lake Keowee.  David Underwood, chairman of city council’s utilities committee, last night announced a new completion date of August 31, 2019.  Part of the problem, Mayor Danny Edwards said, is the lack of funding for what’s to be a multi-million dollar price tag.  Walhalla is under a 2014 consent order with the state to correct an unsatisfactory rating of its public water system, but last night city officials described upgrades at the Coneross treatment plant as what DHEC considers good faith efforts.  Underwood, the utilities chairman, also said that everything is in order to complete an application by the end of the month in which the city will ask the federal government for a permit to place a new intake line into Lake Keowee.  Scott Parris, utilities director, has told “FOLKS”—Friends of Lake Keowee—the intake is to be a concrete caisson that will screen the raw water and keep solids and aquatic life from being transferred to the pumps that send raw water to the treatment plant.