Pioneer’s request tabled for a month

In Hart County, the water and sewer authority board for that northeast Georgia county has tabled until next month a request from its South Carolina neighbor, the Pioneer Rural Water District, for assistance. Officials representing Pioneer, a retail water supplier for parts of Oconee and Anderson counties, went into last night’s meeting in Hartwell in hopes that the authority would approve a request to, in effect, allow Pioneer to piggyback onto Hart’s federal permit to draw water from Lake Hartwell. Hugh Holland, chairman of the Hart County Water and Sewer Authority, said the authority had learned of the request only a few days ago and wants more time to study it. Pioneer seeks a raw water supply to pipe to what’s planned as the district’s first treatment plant, to be built in Oconee’s Golden Corner Commerce Park. Terry Pruitt and Chuck Joye, representing Pioneer at last night’s meeting, said they are fine with the authority’s decision to wait a month before acting.