Solution to the drainage problem

Before Georgetown’s $15 million dollar drainage project began, I suggested the best solution to the flooding problems in Georgetown would be to open up the canal at Front Street, directly behind the steel mill and across from City Hall. That canal drained all of the flood waters into the Sampit River perfectly since before the turn of the century and until the steel mill was built in 1967.

When the steel mill came, they covered the canal up and put in a drainage pipe. Heffelfinger, the steel mill engineer in charge, told the steel mill president that the pipe they had put in was too small and would cause the water to back up and flood Georgetown. But the steel mill bosses told Heffelfinger to go ahead with the small pipes and finish it. The South Carolina DOT should have required the steel mill to re-open the canal at that time.

I agree with Charlie Luquire and Jeep Ford; the solution is not to spend $15 million and tear up the streets of Georgetown. The answer is to open up the canal and let the flood waters drain properly as they have always done. The DOT can purchase the canal property where the ferro reduction plant was located at a reasonable price. If not, they still have the option of claiming that property through eminent domain and opening up the canal to the great benefit of the citizens of Georgetown. This could be done for far less money.

In addition, it was unnecessary to route the drainage system through the streets of Georgetown. The company hired to do this drainage system said it was necessary to get to a street with a higher elevation. Hogwash! Elevations can be built into the drainage system. They should have run the pipe lines directly across Front Street and into the river. They were going to use a powerful pump system to push the water out, so it wouldn’t matter if there was elevation anyway.

Drainage systems much larger and more complex have been built in three months. If you have driven by in the last year and seen workers just standing around, you really have to question if the time meter has been stretched out to increase our bill. And of course running the pipelines through the city gave the contractors a lot more money ($15 million) as opposed to simply opening up the canal across the street (less than $1 million.).

I wonder if the city administrator, the mayor and the DOT read any of our letters. If they do, why didn’t they at least listen to some of the citizens who have been here and knew what the problem was and how to solve it? My question is, will they listen now?

The writer lives in Georgetown.