General Info:
Anderson Regional Joint Water System ( Joint Water System ), located at 998 Hunters Trail, SC 29625 Anderson is a partnership of rural and municipal water districts devoted to providing a high-quality, clean, safe, reliable, economical flow of treated water to its wholesale customers in Anderson and Pickens counties.The Joint Water System, Lake Hartwell Water Treatment Plant is supplied by surface water from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' 55, 000 acre Lake Hartwell Reservoir, which lies along the border of Upstate South Carolina and Georgia. The plant operates 24 hours per day, every day of the year. Its current capacity is 48 million gallons a day ( MGD ).Formed in 2000 under Title 6 Chapter 25, of the South Carolina Code of Laws, 1976, as amended, there were three ( 3 ) founding members-- Belton-Honea Path Water Authority, Big Creek Water District, and Broadway Water District. These three ( 3 ) members added ten new members in April of 2002 and, at the same time, the expanded partnership purchased and began operating Duke Energy's Lake Hartwell Water Treatment Plant.Joint Water System is governed by a 15 member Board of Commissioners. Each member of the Board represents a water district or municipality that purchases its water from the Joint Water System. Currently, there are fifteen ( 15 ) member agencies in Anderson and Pickens Counties, and all except Belton-Honea Path Water Authority and the Town of Central receive treated water from the Joint Water System. Clemson University also purchases water from the System, but because of state statute is exempt from membership on the Board.Belton-Honea Path Water Authority Big Creek Water & Sewerage District Broadway Water & Sewerage DistrictClemson University Hammond Water District Homeland Park Water DistrictPowdersville Water District Sandy Springs Water District Starr-Iva Water and Sewer District West Anderson Water DistrictIn 1910, the State required Anderson to go to surface water and treatment. Three years later, Southern Power Company, Duke Power Company's predecessor, bought the water operation. When the city had to use treated surface water, a pumping station was built on Bailey Creek. A second Water Treatment Plant for the City was built on Cox's Creek, east of Anderson behind Anderson University. This location served the City as the source and continued until additional water was needed. This is when an intake was located on Rocky River, with pumping from Rocky River to the Cox's Creek Water Treatment Plant.The first line from Rocky River was a 16-inch wooden pipe. Cast iron pipe later replaced the wooden type. After the drought of 1954, a large pump-fed storage reservoir was constructed on Old Williamston Road above grade of the Treatment Plant. An additional reservoir upstream of the Rocky River was constructed to allow flow to be released as needed for the intake, with storage in the reservoir on Old Williamston Road, prior to treatment and distribution.Hartwell Lake Filter Plant continued to be operated by Duke Power until they sold the plant to Anderson County Joint Municipal Water System ( now called Anderson Regional Joint Water System ) on April 18, 2002.This website is best viewed with the most recent version of Internet Explorer and at 1024x768 screen resolution.