At the Nov. 12 Business Over Breakfast event hosted by the Lexington Chamber and Visitor Center, Jay Nicholson and Guy Schmoltze from the Joint Municipal Water and Sewer Commission (JMWSC) spoke to Lexington locals about some completed water system projects and projects in the works.

The commission is busy because Lexington County is busy. With continued growth comes increased demand for a high-quality water and sewer system.

The JMWSC serves unincorporated parts of Lexington County and has quadrupled in size since the 1990s, Nicholson said.

According to its website, the commission began with four members: the County of Lexington, the city of Cayce, the town of Pelion and the town of Swansea. Currently, the commission has seven additional members, including the city of West Columbia, the town of Batesburg-Leesville, the town of Springdale, the town of Gaston, the Gilbert-Summit Rural Water District, the town of Lexington and the town of South Congaree.

“Its purpose is to pursue, through the cooperative efforts of its representative members, water and wastewater system expansion within Lexington County to promote and support economic development and to address health, environmental and quality-of-life concerns caused by the lack of such services in the county,” the website says.

One of the commission's recent, visible projects was a water tower near Lexington High School. Covered in art by Lexington County students, the Charter Oak Elevated Storage Tank can hold 2 million gallons and sits at the intersection of Charter Oak Road and Highway 1. It was completed last summer.

A project currently underway is a water system expansion with the town of Batesburg-Leesville. According to earlier reports, the project supports the town’s corrective action plan to provide residents with a sustainable, high-quality water supply and to promote economic development in Lexington County.

The project includes 40,000 feet of water transmission main, a 2,500-gallon pump, and 23 fire hydrants with necessary connections. On the Batesburg-Leesville side, the project involves 21,400 feet of linear pipe and the addition of 33 fire hydrants.