Walhalla group embarks to the capital city

A group representing Walhalla departs this morning for Columbia. Their visit to the capital city will focus on the pervasive problem of infiltration into the city’s sewer pipes, and the Walhalla representatives will have their hands out for money to address the problems that beset the Cane Creek basin inside Walhalla’s collection system. The state’s Rural Infrastructure Fund typically doles out grants in the amount of $500 thousand, but Mayor Edwards says it’s going to take a lot more money to correct Walhalla’s I-and-I. The more inflow and infiltration that seeps into Walhalla’s system the higher it costs the city to treat the wastewater that passes thru the city’s meters on its way to the county treatment plant at Seneca. Last year the Oconee Joint Regional Sewer Authority refunded Walhalla and its two other member cities millions of dollars in the expectation that the cities will spend to fix I-and-I. Walhalla Councilman David Underwood says his city is keeping that money in a separate account.