If your faucet in Pawleys Plantation sputtered on July 1 and again in late September, was it the same problem twice? It felt like the same problem. Pressure dropped, Georgetown County Water and Sewer District asked everyone to ease off the sprinklers, and things came back.
In July, the Neck asked for more water than the plant on Sandy Island Road could comfortably make. In September, the Waccamaw River delivered water the plant could not treat at all. The expansion at that plant, last reported to the district's board as about 85% complete, was built for the first problem. The second problem depends on stored water, the tide chart and rain falling well upstream in the Carolinas.
Two outages, side by side
| July 1, 2026 | September 25–28, 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| What ran short | Treatment capacity during peak demand | Usable river water at the intake |
| Driver named by GCWSD | Drought-driven irrigation demand | Drought-driven low river flow plus king tides |
| Key number | 7.2 million gallons a day produced in June | Salinity of 26,000 microsiemens at its peak |
| District's ask | Follow the voluntary watering schedule | Voluntarily reduce irrigation for a couple of days |
July: the Neck's lawns outran the plant
WMBF reported on July 2 that the district blamed the July 1 outage on unusually high irrigation use during the drought. The production figures the district released show how fast demand had grown.
In the fall and winter, the plant makes around 4 million gallons a day. When irrigation season starts, that number has historically climbed to between 4.5 and 5 million. In June 2025, production reached 6.25 million gallons a day. In June 2026, it hit 7.2 million, an increase of nearly 1 million gallons a day over the prior June, which the district attributed mainly to irrigation during the drought.
That 7.2 million is a daily average. The plant was rated for 8 million gallons a day, so the average was already close to the ceiling. The trouble came at specific hours. The district said the heaviest strain fell on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings between 6 and 9 a.m. Those are the same three days the voluntary schedule assigns to odd-numbered addresses.
The district also said that, as a special purpose district, it takes no position on growth in the county and that those decisions belong to county government.
September: the river came in salty
Twelve weeks later, the plant had enough capacity and too little usable water. The plant draws from the Waccamaw River, and in late September salt pushed far enough upstream to reach its intake.
According to WCBD News 2's Sept. 29 report, the readings rose like this:
- Normal operating range: 800 to 1,000 microsiemens
- Most the plant can treat: 2,000 microsiemens
- Monday, Sept. 28: 26,000 microsiemens
That peak was 13 times what the plant can treat. Salinity began climbing sharply on Friday, Sept. 25. By Monday the district had shut its intakes, switched to stored reserves, and watched the numbers keep rising. Some of the outer parts of the system lost pressure for about an hour, and homes farther from the plant had little or no water. Affected facilities included the Fresenius Kidney Care dialysis center in Murrells Inlet.
"We deal with salinity all the time, but never to this level," Tommie Kennedy, the district's executive director, told WCBD. "When the salt gets so high, we have to shut it off because we can't treat salt."
The National Weather Service office in Wilmington connected the salt to the drought. Its Oct. 9 drought statement said low flow on the Waccamaw on Sept. 28 let salt water move unusually far upstream, and that flow at the Freeland gauge was near the 5th percentile for the season. The Post and Courier added the second factor: the fall king tides, which push seawater farther up the river. When that happens, the plant has to produce water at low tide, when the river carries less salt.
Kennedy told the Post and Courier that salinity interruptions happen every year or two but usually end before customers notice. This one ran long enough that outer parts of the system lost pressure even with stored reserves in use. "It's usually a shorter window and with enough storage, no one even knows it," he told WCBD. "This period was just longer and more intense."
What the Sandy Island expansion changes
The same drought caused both outages, but the plant upgrade addresses only one of them.
The Sandy Island Water Treatment Plant was designed to treat 8 million gallons a day. The district's capital projects report says that because of continued growth, the plant is reaching that limit. The upgrade raises capacity to 10 million gallons a day, and the long-range plan, which dates to a 2014 engineering report, goes to 12. Consensus Construction is the contractor, and the project uses SCIIP funding. In July, WMBF reported a target completion date of Oct. 21. The status report in the board's October packet put the project at about 85% complete, with a 15-day run test underway on the new sediment basin.
With 10 million gallons a day of capacity, the 7.2 million gallon June average from this year would leave much more room for 6 a.m. sprinkler peaks. A July-style outage gets harder to repeat.
A larger plant still treats river water within the same salinity limit, and Kennedy's description of September was simple: when the salt gets that high, the intakes close. What carries the Neck through a salt event is the water already stored when the intakes shut. That is why Kennedy described the district's response in two parts. "We are upgrading plants and adding more storage," he told WCBD. "We're constantly trying to improve the system, so we have a bigger buffer if this happens again."
Where things stand heading into winter
The river's recovery depends on rain far upstream. "Hopefully we'll get some rain soon up in the northern part of the state and in North Carolina, so the flows will pick back up, and everything will normalize for the long term," Kennedy told the Post and Courier in late September.
The October updates showed improvement, but not recovery:
- Drought status. The South Carolina Drought Response Committee's Oct. 13 update listed Georgetown County as Severe. The National Weather Service's Oct. 9 statement said extreme drought had ended across the region but placed Georgetown County in D2, severe drought, on the U.S. Drought Monitor. The U.S. Drought Monitor's South Carolina page carries the federal map for the state.
- Conservation. The same Oct. 9 statement listed voluntary water conservation as still in place in Georgetown County. Under the district's voluntary outdoor watering schedule, odd-numbered addresses irrigate on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Even-numbered addresses have their own days, listed on GCWSD's water conservation page. The district has also asked customers to avoid watering from 6 to 10 a.m. and from 4 to 8 p.m., and has said mandatory restrictions could follow, in coordination with state agencies, if the drought worsens.
- The board. The GCWSD board's November meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 12, at the district's Pawleys Island office.
Winter should help with the July problem without anyone changing a habit. Production drops back toward 4 million gallons a day once irrigation season ends, which leaves the plant far below its rating. The September problem depends on how much rain falls upstream.
If you would like to talk through water service, the watering schedule or anything else changing around Pawleys Plantation, or anywhere between Murrells Inlet and DeBordieu, the Taylor Keenan Team is always glad to compare notes. Start your Lowcountry search: contact our team today.
