Change order boosts the cost of new water plant

Brent Taylor, the Walhalla city administrator, has been authorized to sign a change order that will raise the cost of the city’s new water treatment plant by $215 thousand. The mayor and council authorized the change order last evening after hearing representatives of the general contractor account for unforeseen “enhancements” to the project. Among obstacles encountered by the builders: “a lot more rock than anticipated” and the remnants of a Cane Creek dam at the base of the plant’s intake facility at Lake Keowee. Still, as explained by the Harper Corporation’s Brian Royal, the approximate $20 million plant will be delivered as a finished product on schedule by November. And that’ll mean Walhalla at Lake Keowee will have a replacement plant for its aging Coneross plant off 183, the Walhalla-Westminster Highway.