Sewer Authority unlikely to OK Clemson request

A committee of Oconee’s Joint Regional Sewer Authority viewed with disinterest any part in a study to determine what, if any, COVID-19 infections are contained in the wastewater that is funneled through its collector system to its treatment facilities at Seneca.  The JRSA operations and planning committee yesterday rejected a proposal that the JRSA collect samples and deliver them to Clemson University.  Clemson, in tandem with South Carolina DHEC, would analyze the samples to try to determine the level of COVID-19 infections among the wastewater generated by the JRSA customers.  Chris Eleazer, JRSA executive director, explained Clemson and DHEC are interested in determining the level of COVID-19 in Oconee, Anderson, and Pickens counties to identify the trend of COVID in that three-county area.  According to Eleazer, wastewater samples are being tested in only one other area of the state, the Columbia area.  The JRSA committee, chaired by Seneca’s Bob Faires, is concerned about staff time and a later potential financial cost to gather and deliver the samples to the university.