LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) There is now 10 times more water sitting in a Lancaster County reservoir after an 11 year project concluded earlier this summer.
The Lancaster County Water District, which serves both Lancaster County and Union County in North Carolina, is the 3rd largest withdrawer from the Catawba River behind Duke Energy and the City of Charlotte.
The reservoir is a man-made created to store water after it is pumped from the Catawba River, and before it is treated at a water facility. It is 80 feet deep and holds a billion gallons of water. It cost $35 million to construct, and had to be filled one foot high each day.
To compare, the older reservoir, which sits next to the new one, holds 100 million gallons of water. It was built the early 1990’s.
Brad Bucy, an interim manager at the Lancaster County Water and Sewer District, says if there was a drought, the old reservoir held a three to five day supply of water. With the new reservoir, Bucy says that supply is greater than 30 days.
“There were several droughts in 2002, 2007, and then again in 2011,” said Bucy, “I think the 2007 drought was the one that really forced the issue.”
Most recently in 2015, the county faced two issues around the same time: a drought and a diesel fuel spill. Both issues highlighted the importance of having a reservoir with a larger water supply.
Now that the new resevoir is complete, the water treatment facility is expanding it’s treatment plant so it can treat 40 million gallons a day instead of 36 million gallons a day.
