Why Scott Parris has cheery attitude

Lately Scott Parris is more upbeat than usual. The reason is that Walhalla’s utilities superintendent says he has had back-to-back successful meetings about the city’s long and elusive project—-building a new water plant. The latest meeting that went well, he says, was Monday in Columbia with members of the state DHEC’s permitting division. That division’s eventual approval will be required if Walhalla is to use 21 Lake Keowee acres for an intake. The first successful meeting, according to Parris, was two weeks ago when Walhalla got a pledge of help that Duke Energy will assist the city in a required application of the federal government to use Lake Keowee water.