Operations At Oconee Joint Regional Sewer Authority Plant Back To Normal Operations

(Seneca, SC)——————The Oconee Joint Regional Sewer Authority’s treatment plant was fully restored to normal operating conditions Saturday morning after operations were reduced last Friday due to excessive precipitation in the area which caused overflows at the Coneross Creek Wasterwater Treatment Plant and at Martin Creek near Wells Highway. Operations were reduced due to a lack of storage for stormwater coming into the plant, according to Chris Eleazer, executive director for the Sewer Authority. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control was notified. 

The overflow spilled into Coneross Creek and Martin Creek and although the spill was mostly stormwater, Eleazer continues to advise to people and pets along Coneross Creek from Return Church Road to Lake Hartwell as well as those between Wells Highway and Hartwell Lake on Martin Creek to continue avoiding contact with the waterways until sampling confirms the creek has returned to normal bacterial levels. Signs have been posted in those areas and those samples should be back tomorrow, according to Eleazar. According to the Sewer Authority, they have received over 31 inches of rain at the Coneross Creek Wastewater Treatment plant west of Seneca over the last three-and-a-half months.