Charleston Water System: Lowcountry Rapid Transit could force $68M in utility relocations, raise rates

Russell Huggins, capital projects officer for Charleston Water System, told Charleston County council members that the utility expects nearly $64 million in construction costs and about $4 million in engineering costs to relocate water infrastructure for the Lowcountry Rapid Transit (LCRT) project and other transportation sales-tax projects. “Within that corridor, CWS has estimated almost $64,000,000 in construction costs for water utility relocation. In addition to that, we have about $4,000,000 in engineering costs,” Huggins said.

Huggins said those relocation obligations are in addition to roughly $50 million identified for other planned transportation projects funded through the county sales tax, producing an estimated total pressure on CWS capital needs of roughly $112 million across all county transportation-sales-tax projects. He said the utility will rely on municipal bond sales to pay the costs, with repayment borne entirely by its roughly 130,000 water customers and about 60,000 sewer customers. “We anticipate the impacts of LCRT alone to be about a 3% increase on our water customers and that would begin in 2026,” Huggins said, noting the increase would be on top of a previously approved 7% rate increase.

Huggins described how conflicts concentrate along major transmission mains that serve the Charleston peninsula, Trident Hospital, the Boeing campus and Charleston International Airport as well as wholesale customers such as Berkeley County and Mount Pleasant Waterworks. He said the utility has identified particular conflicts with dual 24-inch mains that supply the peninsula and that the Act 36 Utility Relocation Act — which allocates up to 4% of road construction cost to public water and wastewater utility relocation — will help but does not cover the whole need. “We are getting some funding for the project through the, Act 36 Utility Relocation Act,” he said, adding the act is scheduled to sunset. “However, that act is scheduled to expire July 1. So we do encourage your support, to encourage our state legislators to pass an amendment in their next session to either remove the sunset clause from that in its entirety or to at least extend that provision.”

Council members asked when the oldest mains along Rivers Avenue were installed and whether the water system’s capital plan anticipated replacement. Huggins replied those mains in parts are “approximately, I'm going to say, 100 years old” and that the system is planning a third transmission main, which staff expect to bid as early as fourth quarter of the year. He also said relocation work is not a straight replacement in many spots: “Because of their age, they're not simple offsets. So, we have to extend, multiple joints of pipe … there'll be sections that will be new where we make the conflict resolution.”

Council members pressed whether the LCRT planning team had coordinated with utilities early in the design; Huggins said he had met with the LCRT planning team, which includes SCDOT and regional partners, and that the project moved from concept to detailed design in recent months. Council members also asked whether the county or the transit project owner (referred to in the discussion as CARTA/other regional partners) would bear any of the relocation costs beyond Act 36; staff said several funding streams are in play but that the majority of CWS costs would be borne by its customers unless additional dedicated funding is included in project budgets.

Huggins closed by asking council to press state legislators to extend Act 36 or provide other support and to “include some additional funding in [transportation sales tax] to offset the cost for public water and public wastewater utility relocations.”