TRYON, N.C. (WSPA) – The Town of Tryon sits just above the South Carolina border, about 30 miles north of Spartanburg. It’s a rural town of about 2,000 people. To the east is Vaughn Creek, and to the south is Lake Lanier- a South Carolina lake where Tryon draws most of its water from.
But when it rains hard in Tryon, some residents see a major problem surface.
“We have had problems over the two years that I’ve been here where the manhole cover behind us, next to Vaughn Creek, overflows before the water starts rushing over the top of it,” Neill Rogers, 55, of Tryon, said. “And then it backs up into our basem*nt and causes mold.”
Rogers isn’t the only resident who has experienced this. It’s an issue Tim Bailey has heard about second-hand, from other residents. Bailey himself has been living in Tryon for more than half-a-decade.
“I’ve known people that have lived here in Tryon for 20-25 years and they’ve had businesses downtown on Main Street.” said Bailey. “I’ve heard a lot of the flooding stories [and] the horror stories. Just the infrastructure, when it rains really heavy, it just cannot keep up.”
It’s a growing issue Tryon officials say they’re actively addressing; even Rogers acknowledges every time he’s contacted the town, they’ve been “proactive” and “reactive”; however, he believes the root issue is much deeper than can be addressed with stop-gap measures like water pumps.
“They’ve been proactive sometimes and reactive sometimes,” said Rogers. “Both times they’re doing the best they can, but it’s just the infrastructure has got such a problem, that they’re not able to solve it every time and it just continues to happen.”
Rogers showed 7 News the outside of his home where water was collecting and the make-shift water pumps enclosed by a metal fence the town installed. But even as the pumps appeared to be running, the water’s level didn’t appear to drop. A small drain was visible under the surface of the murky water, with no noticeable movement around it.
Tryon Town Manager Jim Fatland says Tryon’s water and sewage infrastructure is too old and needs to be replaced.
“The town has an old, aging infrastructure,” said Fatland.
According to Alvin Fuller, a civil engineer with Spartanburg-based Summit Engineering Group who was hired by the town, Tryon’s water pipes are too small, and its sewer lines are outdated and not strong enough compared to current industry standards.
“[The] infrastructure used prior to like 1960s, 70s, was again, they were short joints and terracotta pipes, so it’s brittle as well and breaks very easily,” said Fuller, who is also the senior vice president of Summit Engineer Group. “Also, the joints were not sealed as tightly as they are now. Now we’ll use, particularly for sewer, use PVC SDR35, which is a plastic pipe, so you won’t have as much as [a] degradation of the pipe over time and the builds are joined by rubber gaskets which keep it rubber tight.”
The town’s water and sewer infrastructure were installed last century according to Fatland. To get it up to date, it’ll cost an estimated $25,780,063 over 15 years as outlined in the town’s capital improvement plan. The plan was approved by Tryon’s Town Council in March of 2020.
Fatland said the town hired WithersRavenel, a consulting firm, in 2019 to make recommendations on the town’s existing CIP and to analyze the best steps to raise the necessary capital. It suggested the town raise water and sewer rates by 5% every year until 2035 and then drop the rate increase to 1% annually thereafter.
2023-02-16-Tryon-CIP-DocumentsDownload
According to its study, WithersRavenel concluded the town had been managing to financially stay afloat under its now former sewer and water rate structure because “it [had] not been proactively investing in rehabilitation and replacement of aging assets.”
“Based upon our analyses, we have concluded that the fund has not been completely recovering its system costs through its current rate structure. Despite this, the Town has been able to maintain a sound fund balance, since it has not been proactively investing in rehabilitation and replacement of aging assets. The fund balance has instead been used to offset losses in the enterprise fund since it isn’t fully recovering its costs and to address break fix issues when they surface. Since the Town has not been proactively investing in its water and sewer assets, it is now faced with a fairly sizable CIP where the current rates are not adequate to support future increases in operating costs and planned capital projects.”
Town of Tryon, North Carolina Water & Sewer Fund Capital Improvements Plan & Financial Analysis, March 2020
The firm said without raising rates, Tryon would not be able to fund the 45 different CIPs it recommended. The three most expensive improvement projects add up to about $9.6 million dollars alone.
- Dam Assessment and Improvements $4,062,500
- Country Club Road Extension $2,853,750
- Braewick Road Line and Manhole Replacement $2,737,438
Both Bailey and Rogers agree a small annual rate increase is a necessary cost to win a raging war against mother nature.
“Taxes, you know, if they’re going towards a good cause, I think it’s justified,” said Bailey
“Sewage is just going into the creek which then flows into other rivers and then that’s just contamination being spread and that’s not good for the rivers,” said Rogers.
But when still water collects outside of resident homes every time it pours rain, people like Rogers want to know when will it stop.
“We know we got to pay for it,” said Fatland. “We know we got to be aggressive with grants. No one wants to see a sewer system overflow or water line break, but they do happen. We have a plan, we’re moving forward with it, and we’re committed to solving anything before us.”
“We have a plan, we’re moving forward with it, and we’re committed to solving anything before us.”
Jim Fatland, Tryon Town Manager
Each time an overflow is reported to the town, it is posted here on the town’s website as a public notice.
Fatland emphasizes it is important for residents who see overflow flooding to report it to the town because it makes it easier for the town to get funding from the state as each report helps to highlight an active and ongoing issue.
