New Office Complex

Board Chairman, Norbert Steeber, and Superintendent, Chris Rasco accepting the S.C. Rural Water Association 2005 System of the Year Award

History of the Powdersville Water District

Saluda Valley-Powdersville Water Co., Inc. was created in 1971 to serve drinking water to approximately 1200 customers. Since that time, the Company has continued to grow, and with growth many changes have taken place.  In 1992, our name was changed to Powdersville Water Company, Inc. and the main office was relocated to its present location on SC Highway 81.  At that time the Company served 6200 customers and received all of its water from Easley Combined Utilities. Negotiations with ECU resulted in a reduced service area but an increased water capacity. During this same time frame, the Company contracted with the Greenville Water System for a supplemental source of water, providing a second source of drinking water to the system.

In the year 2000, Duke Energy announced that they intended to sell the Duke water system that included a water treatment plant on Lake Hartwell. For many neighboring water companies this meant that their sole source of drinking water was up for bid. With great vision and foresight, Powdersville partnered with several neighboring systems to bid on the Duke systems. At the time, the water companies serving Powdersville, Hammond, Sandy Springs and Starr-Iva were all considered non-profit and could not legally bid on the system. Therefore, in 2001, Powdersville joined others in receiving a new State charter declaring them Special Purpose Districts. The company name was then changed to the Powdersville Water District. Collectively, these newly-formed districts bid on the Duke system and were successful. As part of this transaction, twelve water districts (including Powdersville Water District) formed the Anderson Regional Joint Water System (ARJWS). ARJWS brought the third source of water to the District that is still currently utilized. The ARJWS Board is comprised of representatives from each participating water district. Powdersville's current representative is Mr. Norbert Steeber.

Since acquiring a third water source in 2001, the District has completed several infrastructure improvements to the water system. An 18-inch water main was constructed from the Greenville meter into the core of our system. A 12-inch main was installed from Piercetown to the tank located near the Highway 88 and 8 intersection, a new booster pump station was constructed at Piercetown and a new 1 million gallon ground storage tank was completed near the Wren schools. 

In 2006 the District accelerated its meter change-out program to switch all meters from manual read to radio read. In addition, six water main projects totaling $1.5 million were started. A recent hydraulic study commissioned by the district and performed by B P Barber and Associates revealed the need for these improvements. The primary purpose of these projects is to continue upgrading the distribution infrastructure throughout the entire system. Due to the strong growth in the Powdersville area, many current water mains are undersized for the number of existing taps. Also, there are several hydraulic bottlenecks in large arterial mains that restrict flows between storage tanks. These projects are scheduled to be completed in early 2008.

Each of these improvements has enhanced the District's daily operations, improved system pressures and storage capacity throughout the service area. As the system grows, Powdersville Water District remains committed to planning and building for the future needs of our community.