Conway receives $6 million grant to help prevent flooding
Conway is set to receive a multi-million dollar grant to upgrade the city’s wastewater infrastructure in an attempt to curb flooding.
The $6 million grant will protect local businesses and allow for new development in the area by eliminating overflow during flood events, according to a press release from the city.
The Economic Development Administration grant will be matched with $1.5 million in local funds.
“This EDA award was made to the City of Conway because of our propensity towards flooding, heightened incidences (in frequency and levels of flooding), and the growing challenges created by flooding for our people and their property,” Mayor Barbara Blain-Bellamy said in a press release.
Blain-Bellamy praised the work of city officials who applied for the grant and have been waiting to hear back from the federal agency for more than a year.
John Rogers, deputy city administrator, said that the project will help the local economy.
“It will not only make us better stewards of our environment, it will make Conway more attractive to businesses who want to call our area home and put more of our citizens to work,” Rogers said.
The plan
The first part of the project aims to improve the Crabtree Pump Station, near Mill Pond Road. Lift stations are used to move wastewater from lower to higher elevation.
The Crabtree Pump Station not only handles a third of Conway’s population but also wastewater from the entire City of Loris, the Town of Aynor, and parts of North Myrtle Beach. The station often operates above capacity, straining the entire wastewater system and resulting in flooding in some areas.
The city hopes to increase the size of the lift station and increase capacity to prevent future issues during peak rain storms.
The second part of the project is the construction of a new lift station off Church Street in the Park Hill area. This new pump station will accept the flow from a portion of Highway 501 that is currently served by the Crabtree Pump Station.
The project is expected to begin in late spring and take 18 months to complete.
