Awendaw backs ban on private treatment plants

Awendaw Town Council, which once requested a private sewer plant, now says it supports a recommendation to prohibit such utilities.

Council members sent a letter to all members of the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments this week supporting a special committee's suggestion to bar all privately owned sewage treatment utilities in the tri-county area.

A special issues wastewater COG committee met April 11 and recommended prohibiting privately owned sewage treatment systems. The full COG board might consider that recommendation when it meets in North Charleston on Monday.

Council member Nell Daniels said the letter was necessary because COG committee members considered making an exception for Awendaw after Mayor William Alston complained during the April 11 meeting.

Part of the letter reads, "A consultant to the Town stated at the committee meeting that the Town has decided to build a sewer system through a franchisee. This statement is not correct. In fact, a majority of the Town Council has stated publicly their opposition to using a private entity to provide sewer service in the town."

The letter was signed by all four council members: Daniels, Samuel Robinson, Miriam Green and Bryan McNeal, Jr. Alston did not sign the letter and said he wasn't even aware that council members had sent it. The council didn't call a special meeting to write the letter, he said, adding that he has a problem with any organization or body that meets arbitrarily.

"You just don't meet because you want to meet without going through the proper procedures," Alston said. "The house divided against itself will not stand very long before it falls."

Daniels said council members signed the letter individually and didn't meet in any capacity.

Alston said even if he had knowledge of the letter, he would not have added his signature. He said there isn't enough public money available for the town of 1,200 to build a public sewage treatment system.

The Awendaw council voted 4-1 April 3 at the council's regular meeting to delay any plans for sewer until all phases of a water utility were complete and residents had running water. Alston cast the sole dissenting vote.

In October, the town sent a request to the COG for Awendaw to be named the designated management agency for wastewater treatment in the area. A plan to build a privately owned four-stage wastewater treatment plant was part of that request.

Currently, no one from Awendaw sits on the COG board. Representatives from the town of Awendaw and McClellanville alternate a seat.