UPDATED: Judge Rules To Hold Graniteville Water Collections For Now

***2:10 p.m. Update August 19***

Graniteville residents get an extension on their water bills.

In an Aiken courtroom, on Wednesday, Judge Jack Early said his order to keep Avondale Mills from collecting on water bills will stand…for now.

Judge Early will rule Friday on whether the water rate hike will stand.

Avondale Mills has managed the water system for years and had offered the utility at a much lower rate…but recently raised it to cover expenses.

So, residents have seen their bills go up, in some cases, hundreds of dollars…and they aren’t happy about it.

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Graniteville, SC—Michael Green thinks it stinks.

Michael Green, Water and sewer customer: “I want to get off Avondale’s water system.“

He and several others in this area are putting in wells…trying to rid themselves once and for all of the water woes that have come down the pipeline of the Avondale water system and the South Carolina Public Service Commission.

Permission to get water has gone well…but getting a permit to put in a septic tank…is a different story.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environment Control (DHEC) won’t give green permission to put in a septic tank, saying that “permits for new individual sewage treatment systems will not be issued where public sewer is accessible for connection.“

Avondale Mills Incorporated, Green says, is not a public sewer system.

Green: “It’s a privately-owned sewer system. It’s privately owned. This is no incorporated area, no municipality. I pay my money to a privately-owned company.“

But, DHEC officials say they want to make it clear:

DHEC official (by phone): “If there is a system available, or there is already someone plugged into a system, they’re not going to be getting a permit, according to the regulation, because of that system’s availability.“

They can get their wells, officials say, because there’s little chance of pollution, like there is for sewage.

DHEC official (by phone): “With the well, you’re digging water, you’re digging a hole, with the onsite treatment, it’s really best for public health, to have that into a system anytime that’s available.“

Green just wants to wash his hands of it, once and for all.

Green: “All I’m trying to do is to better myself from a company that’s $15 million in the hole. That’s what they say it will take to repair the system. That’s all I want to do, is just to get out of it.“

He got his well…but he says only he’s only halfway there.

You may remember, local representatives did get a judge to suspend those water and sewer bills until at least next Tuesday. They’ll have a hearing then, and the judge could suspend them again.