The purpose of this web page is to provide information about the possibility of allowing permanent sewage discharges into the Lower Saluda River, Columbia, SC. This is also a plea for you to let your feelings be known. Carolina Water Services has requested a permit amendment that will allow permanent discharges of treated sewage into the Lower Saluda River (See Aerial Photograph).

DHEC rejected the requested amendment on July 30, 2001. Go here for DHEC'S ruling and DHEC's reasoning. Go here for a summary of the comments. The comments filed with DHEC were overwhelmingly opposed to the amendment. We cannot sleep! Appeals (Click on the Docket Numbers to read the appeals.) were filed on August 14, 2001 by the Town of Lexington (Docket Number 01-ALJ-07-0364-CC), Carolina Water Service (Docket Number 01-ALJ-07-0365-CC), Inc., and the Central Midlands Council of Governments (Docket Number 01-ALJ-07-0363-CC). The appeals cycle will be by administrative law judge, then to the full DHEC Board, and then through the court system. The names and contact information for DHEC's board are set forth below. Comments at this point cannot hurt. Correspondence with Governor Hodges also will be helpful. Rumors are that he is being pressured to support the 208 Plan Amendment as approved by the Central Midlands Council of Governments. Email your views to Governor Hodges and his environmental coordinator, Hank Stallworth (803-734-0423). Contact information for your state senators and representatives is set forth below.

If you are curious about who the members of the board of directors for the Central Midlands Council of Governments are, go here.

For Governor Hodges's response to correspondence from Gerrit Jobsis of American Rivers/South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, click here.

This page is arranged with the first section presenting the factual background, the second section giving a list of discussion points, and then a contact list. Please write (preferred) or email the public officials to let them know how you feel. If permanent discharge is allowed, we will lose a vital opportunity to improve the water quality of this South Carolina Wild and Scenic River.

On May 31, 1991, the Legislature designated the section of the Lower Saluda River starting one mile below the Lake Murray Dam to its confluence with the Broad River as a State Scenic River. Carolina Water Services ("Carolina") currently discharges treated sewage into the Lower Saluda River near the Interstate 20 bridge under NPDES # SC0035564 (the "Permit"). If you have paddled the river at low flow rates, you may have seen the sewage bubbling up there. Carolina has requested an amendment to the 208 Regional Water Quality Management Plan that would increase the volume of discharges and allow discharges to continue permanently under the Permit. If the Permit is not amended, discharges must stop. The Lower Saluda River Corridor Plan (the "Plan") was published in 1990. The Plan was the culmination of a planning process by the Saluda River Task Force, a 30-member group representing citizens and interest groups from throughout the area and assisted by what are now the Land, Water and Conservation Division of the Department of Natural Resources and the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism. The Plan articulated the goal of working with local jurisdictions to consolidate domestic wastewater treatment and eliminating domestic wastewater discharges from the Lower Saluda River. Now, ten years later, in spite of these recommendations, the Central Midlands Council of Governments (the "COG" and the permitting authority) has approved an amendment to the Permit that will give Carolina the right to discharge permanently into the Lower Saluda. The COG describes the requested amendment as follows:

• Amend the area-wide 208 Plan to enlarge the I-20 WWTF [Wastewater Treatment Facility] to 990,000 gpd and to designate it as a permanent regional WWTF, subject to upgrade to tertiary treatment that is designed to meet the following limits; (omitted).

Rerouting to the Cayce plant will still result in sewage discharge into the Congaree, but the sewage will ultimately get to the Congaree anyway if discharged into the Lower Saluda.

• The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources is opposed. See comment filed by SCDNR with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC Docket Information). You may also see my comments (FERC Docket Information) which are referenced in the SCDNR letter.
• The Lower Saluda River is a South Carolina Wild and Scenic River.
• The Lower Saluda River supports a cold-water trout fishery in the middle of the Columbia metropolitan area.
• The capacity and the distribution system to send the sewage to the Cayce treatment plant are already in place.
• The City of Columbia and The River Alliance are promoting the Lower Saluda River Corridor for in-the-water recreation.
• Modification of the Permit will allow a continuing sewage discharge which will continue to impact the biochemical oxygen demand in a cold-water river that already suffers from low dissolved oxygen.
• If you personally use this river corridor, please point it out.
• The solution is there, Carolina just has to be made to comply.
• Carolina has known for ten years that it would have to stop its discharges.
• If businesses are constantly allowed to get permit modifications, then they will act in reliance on a modification in the future. They must be made to do what they have agreed to do.
• The Lower Saluda River corridor supports a large wading bird population, the Rocky Shoals Spider Lilly, and has a nesting pair of American Bald Eagles.
• The Lower Saluda River has large fluctuations in flow rates that are caused by the generating schedule of the Lake Murray Dam which result in inconsistent rates of dilution.
• The Lower Saluda River provides Columbia with good, urban whitewater for canoes, kayaks, and rafts.
• The City of Columbia sponsors a program called Columbia Whitewater Kids whose purpose is to get kids from the area on the Lower Saluda River and to develop whitewater paddling skills.
• Canoeing for Kids, a nonprofit organization that provides canoeing experiences to underprivileged children, uses the Lower Saluda River as its home river.
• The State quoted West Columbia utilities director Joe Owens on February 15, 2001, as saying "it's criminal to allow it [the sewage] in there [the Lower Saluda]."

Please feel to cut and paste anything from this page. I suggest making your letter or email unique and pointing out your personal use of the area if you do, in fact, use it. If you do nothing, we may lose this opportunity to clean up this river.