Powdersville Water District

General Manager, Dyke Spencer, accepting the S C
Rural Water Association 2007 General Manager
of the Year Award.

Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce President
Lee Luff, S C Senator Larry Martin, Powdersville Water District General Manager Dyke Spencer, Powdersville Water employees Barbara Bridges and Donnie Nabors, Powdersville Water Board Chairman Norb Steeber
and Greater Easley Chamber of Commerce President
Kent Dykes gather in front of the expanded office for
the ribbon cutting.

News Leaks

Powdersville Water District Asks Customers to Implement Voluntary Water Restrictions
The Powdersville Water District will begin including an important message in their customer bills this week. Based upon the drought conditions in the Upstate, the District feels that it is necessary to ask all customers to conserve water. “We are not in trouble with water now, but what we do today to conserve water will likely have a direct impact on the spring months of 2008”, said General Manager Dyke Spencer.

Customers will receive a pamphlet in their January or February water bill that will include a list of water saving tips. “These are all very simple things that each of us can do with a little thought”, Spencer said. The same list of tips can be picked up at the District’s office Monday through Friday, from 8am to 5pm.

District Moves Back Into Renovated Office
On November 16, 2007, Powdersville Water District hosted a Grand Re-Opening and Dedication Ceremony from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM at their newly renovated office located at 1719 Circle Road off Highway 81 in Powdersville. The ceremony began at 2:00 pm with special guest speakers followed by a ribbon cutting. After the ribbon cutting, there was an open house to allow visitors to tour the building, meet the staff and enjoy light refreshments.

Dyke Spencer Wins General Manager of the Year Award
Dyke Spencer, General Manager of Powdersville Water District, was awarded the 2007 South Carolina Rural Water Association General Manager of the Year award at the recent annual conference in Myrtle Beach. “Since coming to Powdersville Water District in 2004, Dyke Spencer has demonstrated the knowledge, skill and experience our water district needed to guide us through this time of rapid growth”, said Norb Steeber, Chairman of the Board for the District.

Dyke Spencer has over 25 years experience working in water or sewer-related utilities. Before coming to Powdersville Water District he was the Director of Operations and Maintenance with the Beaufort Jasper Water & Sewer Authority and has served on many state and national industry boards. He currently chairs the Water Resources Committee of the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the GPATS Advisory Committee.

Water District Makes System Improvements
Powdersville Water District is nearing completion of a $1.5 Million project to improve the area’s water system. 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.

The planned improvements are divided into six separate projects:

The first is the construction of a 6” water main that will create two much-needed loops in the system off SC Hwy 81 and Ragsdale Road near the Greenville County line. This will improve the system pressure throughout this area.
The second project is the construction of a larger, 6” water main down River Road that will supply a larger volume of water to the residents living in the Saluda Drive area
The third project is the replacement of the current 8” transmission main that runs along SC Highway 81 from Pine Road to Old Williamston Road with a 12” main. This main is a primary artery in our system and increasing its size will help resolve another bottleneck. This upgrade will provide better flows and pressures for nearly 15 neighborhoods located downstream from the replaced main.
The fourth project is the construction of a 6” inch water main that will upgrade an undersized loop between SC Hwy 81 and SC Hwy 8. This upgrade will also improve pressures on Campbell Road.
The fifth project is the construction of an 8” water main that will create a loop from Piedmont and River Roads to Frontage Road near I-85. This should significantly improve pressures and water quality (by improving circulation) for the River Road exit area of I-85.
The final project is the construction of an 8” main that will upgrade mains along Hurricane Creek and Durham Roads from Shiloh Creek Road to SC Hwy 8. The larger main will improve pressure for many existing homes in the Hurricane Creek Road and Highway 17 areas.

Water District Provides Help to Local Firefighters
The Powdersville Water District recently completed a project that should prove valuable to local fire districts when responding to fires. Over the past year, the Water District has identified every fire hydrant in its water system and obtained a Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinate for each hydrant. As General Manager Dyke Spencer explains, “this basically means that we have identified the exact location of each hydrant using GPS satellite equipment so that this information can be imported into a countywide 911 mapping system. Therefore, one day soon, our local firefighters can look at a lap top PC while in route to a fire and determine where the nearest hydrant is to the fire. You can imagine how much precious time that this will save the firemen”. Spencer said, “This is a great example of using current technology to enhance not only the water system, but also the quality of our community. We will be one of the first areas of Anderson County with this capability”.

Radio-Read Meters Change-Out Nears Completion
The Powdersville Water District has almost completed the installation of drive-by radio-read meters for all of its 11,000-plus customers. These meters will greatly reduce the meter-reading workload while increasing the accuracy of the readings. The remaining meters will be completely installed by March 31, 2008.