‘Just the Facts’ on next week’s referendum

Many of us may remember the TV show Dragnet. Joe Friday was famous for saying, “Just the facts.” I think these words are very appropriate when we evaluate whether we should keep the sewage treatment system as-is, or to transfer it to Chesterfield Rural Water.
So here are the facts,
1. The Town of Pageland’s current sewage treatment plants are nearing capacity.
2. These sewage treatment plants and sewer pipes are old, which means that the cost to run these plants and to maintain the sewer lines will increase as time goes on.
3. Jobs are by-passing Pageland due to the lack of sewage capacity.
4. The EPA and DHEC will continue to increase the standards on waste water discharge.
5. Conbraco, a major employer in Pageland, is paying $300,000 annually to pre-treat its waste water before it can be processed by Pageland’s sewage treatment system.
6. Because of DHEC proposed new waste water standards, the cost to pre-treat by Conbraco is expected to increase dramatically.
7. Conbraco is a major employer and source of tax revenue for the Town of Pageland.
8. Conbraco is competing in a world economy and these pretreatment costs are not helpful.
9. Conbraco has considered consolidating and relocating some of its operations to Pageland, which mean more jobs, but can not do so because of the pre-treating cost.
10. It is not economically feasible to run a sewer line from McBee just to handle Conbraco sewer needs.
11. A developer is still looking to build 1,000 residential unit subdivision in Pageland contingent on closing the North Arant sewage treatment plant and the town having ample capacity to handle the increased waste.
12. This subdivision alone will exceed the sewage treatment capacity at the North Arant sewage treatment plant.
13. The Town Council voted to have a referendum, putting the decision on the citizens of Pageland whether to stay as is or to get out of the sewage treatment business.
14. The average sewer bill for the residential customer will not change by having Chesterfield Rural Water handle the sewage waste.
15. The sewer treatment capacity will increase by 400% by having Chesterfield Rural Water handle the sewage waste.
16. The $5/1,000 gallon rate presented by the committee, includes covering the town’s debt payment and the inflow and infiltration in the town’s sewer lines.
17. The cost to shut down the sewage treatment plants is very small as confirmed by DHEC and the Town of Andrews.
18. DHEC will not permit a land application system that is not environmentally sound. As a matter of fact, the Town of Dillon has been operating a spray field operation for 10 years without a single environmental issue.
19. Pageland’s leading industry executives unanimously support the initiative to move to Chesterfield Rural Water citing economic growth, business and residential expense control, job creation, increased town revenue, and social improvement as key decision factors.
To my knowledge, all of these facts are true. I have gone through pain staking efforts to research my information. I have talked with DHEC, the Town of Dillon, the Town of Andrews and others to verify this information. If these are not the facts, please let me know. If there are additional concerns, please let me know (675-3200) and I will find out the answer. This decision is too important not to get all the facts.

Ed Drozd serves on the executive board of the Pageland Chamber of Commerce.