North Augusta’s Sewer System Almost At Full Capacity

The sewer system in North Augusta can only take 713,000 more gallons. Due to the limited availability, any new construction work may have to be delayed.

Projects already approved, including almost 9,000 homes waiting to be built, keep their promised space.

Public services chief James Sutton spoke to city planners about the problem. New projects in 2025 have already taken up 487,000 gallons. 

"At that pace, we'd probably be out next year this time," Sutton said, according to The Post and Courier. "As it stands right now, in all probability, we won't be doing any more construction."

In 1983, the city bought rights to 8.67 million gallons daily when the Aiken Public Service Authority built the plant. Since then, they've allocated 7.96 million gallons of daily space. What's left is enough for about 2,500 new houses. 

Steps are being taken to control growth. No new apartment-only projects can start for two years. They'll also charge extra fees on new building work to support public needs.

Jim Clifford runs the city and says they haven't set rules yet about giving out the remaining sewer space. Their main job is taking care of places already in the city. They're unsure about growing past current city lines.

The Horse Creek plant upgrade and expansion will cost over $60 million. Making it bigger is part of the plan, but that won't happen for years.