From the “they said it couldn’t be done” department:

After two years, multiple public hearings, dozens of meetings, three very detailed and expensive studies, and three rounds of ordinances, the eight special purpose districts providing sewer to the unincorporated areas of Greenville County are now two special purpose districts.

Last week, Greenville County Council gave third reading to the last ordinance consolidating the last two sewer sub districts, Parker and Taylors, into MetroConnects. The unification will be completed on July 1, however MetroConnects is effectively governing now the installation of new sewer service in the Parker and Taylors.

MetroConnects will now serve as the only sub district collecting sewer in the unincorporated areas. ReWa continues to be the district treating the sewer collected by the sub districts. In addition to MetroConnects, the six cities in Greenville County continue to operate as sub districts collecting sewer and delivering it to ReWa.

Your HBA was part of a multi-organization coalition that successfully advocated for unifying the county’s sewer system.

Greenville County’s fractured sewer system was a legacy of the old mill villages. The sub districts were left in place when the General Assembly adopted the Home Rule Act in 1973. That action effectively froze the sub districts until a legal study provided County Council with a road map to force consolidation of sewer in the county.

Sewer consolidation was important to home builders because almost 90% of the lines in the sub districts, other than MetroConnects, were clay and failing. That failing infrastructure was affecting economic development and home building. And the sub districts did not have the resources to remedy the problem and were under consent orders with DHEC.