Aiken residents concerned that new development is going to cause the city to run short of water may not have anything to worry about.
Right now, the city has plenty of water for new development, Utilities Director Mike Przybylowicz told the Aiken City Council on Monday evening.
The city gets water from several different sources including surface water from Shaws Creek, a spring from Shiloh Springs and wells located on Town Creek Road, Pine Log Road and Silver Bluff Road.
And it doesn't use all the water it produces, Przybylowicz said.
Aiken treats around 5 million gallons of water per day from Shaws Creek, Przbylowicz said. He added the city's customers use 40% of the surface water treated and around 70% of the water from underground.
Several city and county residents have said they're concerned with the amount of water that could be used by a proposed House of Raeford poultry processing plant is built near Interstate 20's exit 22.
But, the math suggests there's plenty of water available for the plant.
Assuming there's a minimal amount of water produced by the spring and nearly all of the city's surface water comes from Shaws Creek, the city's customers are currently using 3.2 million gallons of surface water produced from the city's water treatment plant.
So, if the plant uses uses 30 million gallons per month (or 1 million gallons per day), the city would still have some water left over for further development.
Even if the plant were to use more water, capacity likely wouldn't be an issue.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control permits the city to extract 8 million gallons of water per day from the creek, Przybylowicz said.
However, the city's water plant water treatment was built in 1953 and it is technologically limited to 5 million gallons per day.
Aiken is currently working to construct a new water treatment plant across Columbia Highway from the current plant.
The new plant will allow the city to treat the maximum permitted amount, Marie Corbin of Goodwyn Mills Cawood, a firm working with the city on the new plant, told the Aiken Standard last fall.
Drought may also not be an issue, Przbylowicz implied.
The latest United States Geological Survey shows 12.7 million gallons of water per day flowing through Shaws Creek, he said.
The city also had United States Geological Survey examine the water level of its wells, Przbylowicz said.
"We're still in young water," he said. "Right now the aquifer is at a certain depth and we're still in that high water mark. So, they consider we're in young water. We're not in deep water, pulling out from the bottom. There's plenty of water in the aquifers."
