Water system's borrowing approved

Charleston City Council has approved the Charleston Water System's plan to borrow up to $155 million -- an amount greater than the city's annual budget -- for construction projects that already have prompted a rate increase.

The city is not the borrower of the money, and isn't liable for repayment, but the water system needs City Council approval to issue the bonds.

Some of the borrowing is actually a refinancing of existing debt that will save Charleston Water System about $4 million in interest charges, while around two-thirds of the debt will finance new projects.

The largest of the projects is the replacement of the West Ashley Sewer Tunnel, which serves about 100,000 people and carries 10 million gallons of sewage daily to the Plum Island treatment plant.

The tunnel is in precarious condition, Charleston Water System CEO Kin Hill told City Council on Wednesday, and were it to fail, it would be "an environmental catastrophe" on the scale of the BP oil spill.

In other business, council approved a plan to expand the Flagship business incubator for high-tech companies by leasing and renovating a more than 13,000-square-foot building next door to the Flagship site at East Bay and Calhoun streets.

Rents from the companies are expected to cover the city's operating costs.

Council members also prayed for city lawyer Adelaide Andrews, who Mayor Joe Riley said had suffered a brain injury during a slip-and-fall accident while moving into a new house Saturday with her family.

Riley said Andrews, the city's deputy corporation counsel, was in "dire condition" Saturday at MUSC, and has made slow but positive improvements since then.

Reach David Slade at 937-5552.