Norway water leak, billing problem resolved

The break caused the town to use more water, which it purchases from Orangeburg’s Department of Public Utilities. That could have caused higher rates to kick in.

DPU helped the town find the water leak, which was fixed. That caused a reduction in the town’s water usage.

Orangeburg City Council held a called meeting on the issue last week.

Council unanimously gave DPU Manager Warren Harley the authority to amend Norway’s wholesale water agreement. Councilman Dr. Kalu Kalu and Councilwoman Sandra Knotts were not in attendance. Councilman Jerry Hannah voted remotely.

The new agreement “will help both us and them in how they pay us going forward,” Harley said. “It won’t impact their service or rates. It will make some adjustments in how they pay us and what they pay us.”

Harley explained that the town faced a demand charge. If water usage is high enough, the demand charge may go up based on how much is being used.

“That is what happened, but we know it wasn’t related to actual more usage,” Harley said. “They had a break in their line and it was causing their usage to be a lot higher than it needed to be.”

Harley said the only way to readjust the demand charge for the town was to get permission from Orangeburg City Council. The City of Orangeburg owns the utility.

Norway Mayor Lynn P. Garrick said the leak “has been going on for quite a while. Nobody ever found it.”

The town saw its water usage increase, but officials thought it was due to customers using more water.

The town doesn’t know when the leak started. It was discovered after excessive water usage began increasing costs for DPU.

DPU was able to find the break and the town, through the South Carolina Rural Water Association, fixed the break in September.

Garrick said she does not believe the water usage issue will have an immediate impact on town residents.

“It is not a pass-through to the residents at this time,” Garrick said. “We are going to continue doing what we have been doing with DPU until we can figure it out and go forward. We are just trying to figure it out.”

Harley said, “We helped them locate it and repair it.

“This went on for a long time. We helped them resolve that actual usage. Their actual bill now will go down.”

DPU typically notifies commercial and residential customers about any unusual spikes in water usage.

“They are still responsible for the cost, because water went through the meter, but we do our best to give them a heads up,” Harley said.

DPU’s new advanced metering infrastructure allows customers to set their usage limits. The system notifies them if the normal usage is exceeded.

The Town of Norway’s water leak will have no impact on DPU water customers, Harley said.

Also, council unanimously authorized DPU to begin condemnation proceedings to acquire easements for water system improvements.

The required right-of-way easements include:

• A 10-foot temporary construction easement at 3146 North Road.

• A 12-foot general utility easement and 10-foot temporary construction easement at 115 Koller Road.

• A 12-foot general utility easement and 10-foot temporary construction easement on an empty lot on North Road near the Kennerly Road intersection.

The easement acquisitions are being sought as part of the utility’s acquisition of the Bull Swamp Rural Water Company in 2023.

The Bull Swamp system received a $10.5 million grant through the S.C. Rural Infrastructure Authority to allow DPU to take over and improve the Bull Swamp water system. DPU also received an additional $4 million grant to help interconnect the system.

The utility acquired about 100 miles of pipe and is replacing about 15 miles with state funding.

“We need these easements to accomplish that work in making those connections to the system,” Harley said.

The Bull Swamp system serves rural customers in the area near North.