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LAKE CITY, S.C. – Lake City is upgrading its Lake Swamp Wastewater Treatment Plant on Cemetery Road.

The $10.5 million renovation replaces equipment, creates additional biological treatment basins and will improve the quality of discharged wastewater in and near the city.

The construction project is financed by the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which is administered by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. Money also is being provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state.

BRW Construction of Garden City, Georgia is the contractor. The company specializes in environmental and heavy civic construction services.

“We are upgrading all the pieces out there,” City Administrator William Hall said.

The lab at the wastewater treatment plant also is being upgraded. The city of Lake City does a lot of its own wastewater quality testing. The lab also must pass inspection. It hasn’t been renovated since the late 1980s, Hall said.

“We are going to upgrade the whole building,” he said.

The project started in 2019. Construction started in winter 2021. The plan is to have it completed either in late 2022 or early 2023, Hall said.

It has been difficult to obtain some of the items needed to finish the project because of COVID-19 pandemic shortages, he said.

“With supply chain and things going on, we are taking things one day at a time. They are on schedule with everything at this point,” Hall said.

The wastewater treatment plant is a regional system, Lake City Public Works and Utility Service Director Ricky Sims said. Scranton and Olanta are two of the area towns tied to the Lake City wastewater treatment plant.

“It’s a small plant, but we cover a large area,” Sims said. “We are going through a major upgrade. It will probably be a $10.5 million project.”

The project includes aeration basins, a septic receiving system and upgrades to the clarifiers, he said.

“We aren’t increasing capacity at this time,” he said. “We are renovating the plant because a lot of the equipment has been in use since the early 1980s. We are getting a remodel so to speak.”

The wastewater treatment plant is not in violation of any clean water standards, Sims said. The equipment needed to be upgraded and some parts of the wastewater treatment plant that were not being used anymore need to be removed.

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