Following an emergency meeting held Wednesday, April 9, Williamsburg County supervisor’s office issued the following statement concerning 10-year water service litigation:

Williamsburg County has settled a 10-year court battle over water and wastewater rights. County Supervisor Stanley Pasley and the Williamsburg County Council have announced that a settlement was reached with Williamsburg Rural Water and Sewer Company, Inc., a not-for-profit organization, which claimed the exclusive right to provide water and wastewater to rural customers in Williamsburg County north of Black River.

This litigation, which included two arguments in the South Carolina Supreme Court, had halted all water projects in the disputed area, pending settlement of the case. Another court hearing had been set for July 14, with the probability that any decision would have been appealed once again to the Supreme Court, resulting in additional delays in bringing water to citizens north of the river.

At the same time, Pasley announced that the county is in the process of refilling its application with USDA-Rural Development for funding of the Kingstree East Phase I project. If and when approved and funds are made available, this project will bring water to the Gausetown area between Highway 261 and Wilson Chapel Road.

The county anticipates submitting an application for Kingstree East Phase II. This project will connect the county’s South Williams-burg Water System to the existing Sand Ridge system, the recently completed Red Road Area Water Expansion project and the above mentioned Kingstree East Phase I Project (Gausetown Road) thus enabling the county to bring water from its two water tanks in the Salters/Greeleyville area totaling 1,250,000 gallons to areas across and north of Black River.

As a result of the litigation settlement, Williamsburg Rural Wa-ter and Sewer will assign all of its interest in the exclusive claim to water and wastewater rights north of Black River to Williamsburg County for $150,000. This settlement payment will come from the Williamsburg County Water and Sewer Authority, which has adequate funds on hand to make the payment without a countywide tax increase or a rate increase to current water customers attributable to this settlement.

Williamsburg County Water and Sewer Authority, along with the Williamsburg County Council, will continue to work vigorously with its franchisees, the towns of Kingstree, Stuckey, and Heming-way, the City of Lake City and Barrineau Rural Water Company, to ensure rapid expansion of water and wastewater services in Williamsburg County.