Charleston sewage threat

A tunnel failure could

leave 30,000 homes

and businesses without working sewers.

The sewage tunnel in South Carolina is in imminent danger of failure due to sporadic backups of raw sewage. The problem is capacity; the pipe can not handle the amount of sewage being pumped through.

Charleston Water System has asked U.S. House Minority Whip Jim Clyburn for US$16 million in federal assistance to go toward the estimated US$43 million project. The aid was previously authorised by Congress but was never approved.

Charleston Water System has been issuing warnings about the status of its deep sewer tunnels for 18 years and has replaced all but one.

The scheme, which is being overseen by Black & Veatch (B&V), is entering final design stage and will be ready to bid within 12 months. It will take 30 months to complete construction.

T&TI tried to speak to B&V about the project but they declined to comment.

Clyburn warned Charleston Water System in January that

it will have to defend the spending if he pursues the

US$16 million earmark.

The two mile tunnel sits more than 30m below the ground. It was built in the late 1960’s.

The project would add a new tunnel section to increase

sewer capacity, creating

space for the waste that new developments are expected

to generate.

Failure of the current tunnel would mean no sewer service for West Ashley and parts of Johns Island, Red Top, Hollywood, Meggett and Ravenel.