Pioneer has its plant, in the name of one of the founders

Pioneer Rural Water dedicated its new treatment plant in the name of Bobby Stevenson, one of the system’s founders and the father of today’s board chairman, Barry Stevenson. Now all Pioneer needs is a DHEC go ahead to open its pipes to treated water from Lake Hartwell. That aside this was a proud day for customers, district officials, and employees, for they were present for the ribbon cutting and tours of highway 59 plant near Fair Play. Board member Eddie Grant says it was Bobby Stevenson’s dream that Pioneer would produce its own water, to wean its way off municipal wholesale contracts whose rates Pioneer is powerless to set. Personally, Grant said he was sold on the project when he found out that Pioneer would be allowed to draw a raw water allocation from nearby Lake Hartwell amounting to five million gallons a day. Among the speakers at the dedication was Tim Ellis, a representative of USDA’s Rural Development, which lent $19.4 million dollars toward the project.