“Special circumstance” may augure outside sewer provider

 

If the policy-making board for the Oconee Joint Regional Sewer Authority approves, for the first time an outside entity may provide service in part of the county.  But this request, from Clemson University, would be an exception—what Bob Winchester calls “a special circumstance.”  The university seeks to replace a septic system that is in place now at its former “Y” beach property along SC 93 in Oconee County with piped sewer, as part of the university wastewater system.  The request has been approved at the JRSA committee level and is subject to approval by the full authority board, which next meets July 11.  Winchester says the regional government service agency, the Appalachian Regional Council of Governments, signs off for compliance to the Upstate’s water quality plan.  Clemson University is in the wastewater business.  A public institution, the university operates its own wastewater facility and it is to that facility that the wastewater created would flow.  According to Winchester, a privately-operated sewer service may not serve territory within the Oconee JRSA boundaries.