Williston no longer under boil water advisory; leaders working to fix long standing issues
WILLISTON, S.C. (WJBF) — Williston is making strides in fixing its aging water system. After facing a major crisis with their main well, the town is now working to upgrade its infrastructure.
Williston recently faced a serious water crisis when their main well failed. They switched to a backup, that was unstable, causing several main breaks. “They’re working on 70-year-old things in the ground. And, Mother Nature, after 70 years, it’s time to replace pipes,” said Williston Mayor Brett Williams.
On Tuesday crews starting removing a submersible pump from the main well. It was replaced 17 months ago but is now malfunctioning. They need to go down 250 feet, unscrew each section, heat the seal to break it, and keep going until they reach the motor. “They’ll pull it, it’ll take ’em a day and a half to pull it, then they’ll put it back in the ground, then they’ll test it,” said Williston Public Works David Hall, Jr. “By Thursday afternoon, I should be back up to normal with this well running.”
The South Carolina Department of Health is investigating the pressure lines. They’re conducting tests to gather data. “It could be something in the pressure lines that we might need to fix,” added Hall. “So we going to put out pressure tests on three hydrants and we going to monitor it for seven days.”
The town received $8 million in grants to upgrade the infrastructure. They’re teaming up with engineers to upgrade it, add a new filtration system, and connect the water towers. “The water lines will have the same, size water pipe going from tower to tower to tower. It’ll be a loop system,” said Mayor Williams. “It will help disperse water evenly. So when you do have the well problems and you do have to go to a backup well, you don’t have as much as the hammering going out to your service lines and to your water mains.”
The current phase, including tying into water towers, should be completed by early 2027.
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