The price of water is going up in York County. So, too, the pipes to keep it moving.

As York County eyes a new stormwater utility fee, leaders are moving ahead with several changes on the water and sewer side.

York County Council finalized a new rate structure for both last week. Starting next year, base water and per gallon charges will increase almost 9 percent. Increases likely will continue for the next nine years, ending up about 27 percent higher than they are now. Base and per gallon sewer costs will be up 13 percent next year, likely 36 percent by the end of those nine years.

York County already had commissioned a water and sewer rate study, then adopted its findings showing prices were too low for the service provided. The decision at a Dec. 4 meeting just formalized the new rate table.

Changes will impact residential, commercial and wholesale customers.

York County buys its water from Rock Hill, then sells it to Carolina Water Service along with county customers.

Also las week, council agreed to spend more than $8 million on a new pump station to serve eastern parts of the county.

On Nov. 21, York County staff opened five bid proposals for the new pump station. The lowest bid came in at $7.78 million, from Haren Construction Co. out of Etowah, Tenn. Adding a 10 percent contingency brings the total approved bid to $8.56 million.

The new Steele Creek wastewater pump station will be adjacent to the existing one. It will be on a higher elevation and outside the flood plain. The current station needs replacing due to age and limited capacity, officials said. The new one will allow for future growth in the area and better prevent against overflows and spills. The station will be managed by the county engineering department.

The Steele Creek pump station is one of several county projects heading to construction soon. Another regional station is planned for the Stockbridge area, along S.C. 160 West and mostly south of Zoar Road between Fort Mill and Tega Cay. That station will replace several smaller ones, and include a force main and gravity sewer. A 1.5 million gallon elevated water storage tank just north of Fort Mill, near U.S. 21.

About 28,000 feet of force main will be replaced along S.C. 274, between the Crowders Creek and Allison Creek pump stations in Lake Wylie. The upfit is needed to keep up with significant community growth in that area.

Waterline loop connections will be built in several areas throughout the county to improve efficiency. A new water booster station along S.C. 161 in Newport is planned, too.

Roads discussed, too

Not all county decisions at the Dec. 4 meeting involved water and sewer. One of interest involved roads as well.

County staff now can begin negotiations with The Kercher Group out of Raleigh, N.C., for work on a new pavement management system. Council tabbed the consulting firm from two candidates, both looking to help the county create a web-based, vendor-hosted software system the county could use to analyze its roadways. The system would track construction history, show inventory of roads and their conditions.

York County has 458 miles of paved roads and 195 miles of gravel roads. The new system would deal only with paved county roads. It would, according to the staff report to council, “guide sound, defensible decisions” on how to invest resources in maintaining or fixing roads.

This story was originally published December 10, 2017 at 8:00 PM with the headline "The price of water is going up in York County. So, too, the pipes to keep it moving.."