New stormwater utility to be created

A new utility designed to protect creeks and streams from pollution from stormwater runoff will likely be the largest and possibly the most expensive undertaking ever by the city of Hartsville, city officials say.

“We’ve never done anything larger in the past, and we’ve never done anything that will be as controversial,” Public Works Director Mike Welch told Hartsville City Council members at a planning retreat on Aug. 22.

How large and how expensive remain to be seen, according to officials.

But Hartsville residents and business owners will feel the effects on their pocketbooks soon.

City council is poised to give final approval to an ordinance establishing the new utility and setting up a fee structure to pay for its operation when council meets at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Before that vote, council will hold a public hearing on the measure during which citizens will have the opportunity to speak on the matter. The meeting will take place in council chambers at city hall.

As proposed, the measure calls for a $4 a month fee for residential properties in the city and a $5 a month fee for commercial properties.

James Clemons, the city’s assistant director of public works, wants Hartsville residents to be aware of the fees before they are implemented.

“We want to make sure that the community understands, when they see this new item on their water bill, there won’t be a huge number of people running to city hall and saying we didn’t know, nobody told us,” Clemons said.

“I hope people show up for the public hearing,” he said.

The mayor, council members and city administration officials have been quick to point out that the new utility is being created under a mandate by the federal government’s Environ-mental Protection Agency for states, and that the states — in South Caro-lina’s case through the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) — are passing the mandate down to local governments — cities and counties.

“It’s another federal unfunded mandate,” City Manager Jim Pennington said when council gave first-reading approval to the ordinance in September.

“This is not something we’re undertaking because we want to,” councilman Billy Shirley said at the same time.

Among the items the fees will help pay for initially is a $280,000 study currently under way by an engineering firm to determine what the new utility system will require to meet federal standards, according to Clemons. The city has already been billed $100,000 for part of the study, Clemons said.

“The study will tell us about the pervious and impervious surfaces around the city,” said Clemons.

Timing for the implementation of the new system has also become a critical factor, Clemons said. Initial indications were that the city would be designated as a Multiple Separate Stormwater System (MS4) by about 2011 following the 2010 U.S. census.

But Clemons said the federal government is now considering moving that timetable up to 2009.

“When they designate us as an MS4, we’re going to have to have a program put into place,” Clemons said.

Failure to comply with the stormwater quality standards could cost more than implementing the system with fines of up to $10,000 a day, Clemons said.

“The EPA started this process in 1999,” Clemons said. The effort began with a focus on larger municipalities but is now beginning to focus on smaller ones like Hartsville, he said.

The primary focus of the effort is water quality in Black Creek, according to Clemons. “This is directed at water quality when water hits the creek,” he said.

City officials have identified at least 12 outfalls where water flows into Black Creek, most of them into Prestwood Lake on the creek, Clemons said. “How this will work is we will start testing water quality going into the creek at each outfall, and if there is an issue, we’ll go back upstream until we find the source of that,” he said.

There are currently seven sites along Black Creek from Hartsville to Quinby that pose concerns over contamination from animal waste, Clemons said.

“Yes, it’s an unfunded mandate,” Clemons said. “Yes, it’s something we’re being forced to do. But even if it weren’t a mandate, it’s the right thing to do. Everybody wants clean water. Clean water is important to all of us. Everybody lives downstream.”