Tag Archives: sewer

DHEC in the News: Oyster beds, mosquitoes, food recovery app

Leave a reply

Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

Oyster beds near Stono River will reopen on Tuesday after sewer spill

Oyster beds in the vicinity of the Stono River will reopen to harvesting Tuesday, state regulators said Monday.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control are reopening beds from Charleston Harbor south to the North Edisto River as of sunrise, after testing showed the waters were safe again. The beds were closed in late February after a town of Hollywood sewerline spilled at least 2.4 million gallons from Feb. 19 to Feb. 26, according to DHEC.

Horry County joins DHEC mosquito trapping program

Horry County Stormwater officials have a plan to improve how they locate areas with substantial mosquito populations, in order to conduct spraying.

The Stormwater Department has joined DHEC’s mosquito trapping program. …

“We’re already starting to see them. We are starting to get service requests in,” said James Brock, Horry County Mosquito Control Supervisor.

Columbia Restaurants Can Donate Food Instead of Throwing It Away with App

Columbia, SC (WLTX) – The City of Columbia is working to combat hunger in the area and thanks to an app, everyone can get involved.

According to the State Department of Health and Environmental Control, 1 in 8 adults go hungry and for children those odds are 1 in 6. The Columbia Food Policy Committee is working to change those numbers with the help of restaurants and volunteers.

DHEC in the News: Flu, Surfside Beach pier, discharge into Saluda River ended

Leave a reply

Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

DHEC: Number of SC flu deaths reported this season now at 167

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – The death toll this flu season continues to grow in South Carolina.

16 more people have died in the state within the last week.
Another child dies of the flu in South Carolina, but DHEC report shows activity is down

Flu activity continued to decline in the last week, but experts at both the federal and state health agencies said influenza is still considered widespread.

There were 6,332 influenza cases reported in the state in all, less than half that of the previous week, according to a report from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

FEMA set to fund upgraded Surfside Beach pier

The pier will be going back up in Surfside Beach, pending some official paperwork.

Interim administrator Jim Duckett said Tuesday the town is anticipating $9.5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) money to build a concrete pier. The town’s wooden pier was destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

Mayor Bob Childs predicted it would be back up in late 2019 at the earliest.

It’s Over: Discharge Into Saluda River from I-20 Sewage Plant Formally Ends

A yearslong fight to eliminate discharges from the former Carolina Water Service wastewater treatment facility near I-20 into the lower Saluda River came to a close Wednesday as the Town of Lexington, which now owns the plant, officially ended the discharge.

Lexington Mayor Steve MacDougall and Congaree Riverkeeper Bill Stangler confirmed to Free Times Wednesday afternoon that the discharge has ended. Wastewater from that facility is now being pumped to a regional wastewater treatment facility in Cayce.

5 gallons of leftover peanut oil? How to properly dispose of your Thanksgiving grease

Leave a reply

By Adrianna Bradley

Thanksgiving grease can cook up plumbing disasters if you don’t know how to dispose of it correctly. While it seems tempting it’s important that you don’t flush that pan full of oil down your sink! Grease, oils, and fats can cause clogging problems in sewage systems.

Did you know that recyclers can turn your old grease into biofuel to power vehicles? Yes, that’s right. New techniques are allowing researchers to make biodiesel entirely from waste grease more cheaply and efficiently. Biodiesel is a clean-burning fuel that is used in many types of motor vehicles. So let’s save our pipes and sewer systems and make fuel instead.

There are many recycling centers across our state. Click here to find the closest location to you where you can go to drop off your old grease.

Cooking Oil Disposal Don’ts

  1. Don’t pour oil down your drain or toilet: It can clog your pipes and/or the city sewer mains.
  2. Don’t dispose of oil in compost bins or piles: Fats in general are bad for compost, and cooking oil is nothing but fat.
  3. Don’t pour hot oil into the trash. 

DHEC in the News: Flu, sewer overflow, US mortality

Leave a reply

Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

Charleston Co. has most flu cases in S.C., DHEC says

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) – The flu bug is popping up in South Carolina, and while the season appears to be off to a slow start, state health department records show Charleston is leading the state in the number of cases.

Blockage causes sewer overflow into nearby waters, officials say

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Renewable Water Resources said Friday afternoon there was a sanitary sewer overflow in the area near North Pleasantburg Drive and Rutherford Road in Greenville.

The cause of the overflow was determined to be a blockage caused by a combination of grease and rags, which should not be discharged or flushed into the sewers, officials said.

General Interest

What’s Killing Americans? These 2 Things, According to a New CDC Report

Good news: Deaths from cancer and heart disease—by far the two biggest killers of Americans—are on the decline, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as are those related to HIV. But further analysis released by the public health agency Friday highlight two alarming trends for U.S. mortality: significant rises in gun and, especially, drug overdose deaths (with the latter driven by the ongoing opioid crisis in America).

Despite the drop in heart disease and cancer deaths, the overall death rate in the U.S. actually rose in in the year ending mid-2017 compared to a comparable period the previous year.

DHEC in the News: West Nile, septic tanks, abandoned boats

Leave a reply

Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

DHEC: West Nile and Mosquitos Still a Problem in SC

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO)–The calendar may say October but the temperatures have felt more like the middle of summer and that’s why State Health and City officials don’t want you to let your guard down when it comes to mosquitos.

DHEC says there has been an increase in the number of mosquitos infected with West Nile this year.

According to DHEC, human cases of West Nile have been confirmed in Anderson, Beaufort, Greenville, Horry, Laurens, Lexington, Richland, Spartanburg, Union, and York counties.

General Interest

Plan underway to eliminate septic tanks, decrease sewage leaks

In a move to stop sewage from leaking into our local waterways, a local town is offering financial assistance for people to get rid of septic tanks.

It’s a picture perfect place to paddle board, but be careful not to ingest the water around Shem Creek.

Tired of seeing Hilton Head’s Broad Creek used as a ‘Dumpster’? 3 residents step up to remove abandoned boats.

After waiting nearly a year, a group of Hilton Head Island residents are taking it upon themselves to clean up boats that were abandoned in the Broad Creek.

After Hurricane Matthew destroyed Palmetto Bay Marina last year, the number of boats moored in the Broad Creek nearly doubled. The legal process to deem the boats abandoned only started a couple weeks ago and will take months to complete.