Sewer treatment charges remain undecided issue

The complicated issue of how much Oconee’s three largest municipalities pay for wastewater treatment was left unsolved yesterday in a meeting where frustrations mounted as to what’s the fair share  Seneca, Walhalla, and Westminster pay to the county’s wastewater treatment plant at Seneca.  The matter is to be re-addressed in a meeting Friday between Scott Moulder of Seneca, board chairman of the Joint Regional Sewer Authority, and the JRSA’s executive director, Chris Eleazer. The commissioners are trying to arrive at new pro-rata percentages that each member city will pay for the fiscal year 2022.  As the largest customer, Seneca pays the most to treat the wastewater that flows through its pipes to the treatment facility.  A complicating factor is how to decide the fair share that the cities pay for pump station costs.  Of particular concern to Walhalla members Lamar Bailes and Tally Grant is the Flat Rock pump station near their city, with Bailes asking the question, “Who’s going to pay for it?”  According to an engineering study presented last week, the Flat Rock station was designed to handle 250 gallons a minute, but during wet weather events, it pumps between 450 and 1,200 gallons a minute.