Next to the Swim Alert Map on the Charleston Waterkeeper website reads a warning: “Red sites are not safe for swimming.”
The conservation advocacy group has been testing 20 recreational waterways in the Charleston area for Enterococcus bacteria, a fecal indicator, every Wednesday from May through October since 2013. Two Charleston City Paper stories in 2022 and 2023 summarized results.
The two testing sites on James Island Creek have consistently failed to meet quality standards for safe recreational use, according to Executive Director Andrew Wunderley, who has worked for Charleston Waterkeeper since 2011.
“The issue in James Island Creek is that the bacterial levels are very persistent,” he said. “They’re high regardless of tide stage, they’re high regardless of weather.”
That indicates a continuous source of bacteria, Wunderley said.
“There are four main sources of bacteria: it can be sewage infrastructure; it could be septic tanks; it could be dogs and pet waste; or it could be wildlife. All of those are going to be contributing to some degree,” he said.
Human waste seems to be a big culprit
But the human component has been worrying advocates lately, he said.
“There’s been microbial source-tracking work that has found a human component to the bacteria in James Island Creek,” said Wunderley, who believes leaky septic tanks and unsound sewage systems could be contributing to the high bacteria levels of the creek.
Mike Saia of Charleston Water System has similar views.
“The fact that human [waste] is present means one of two things,” he said. “Either people are going to the bathroom outdoors or septic tanks are leaking.”
Both Charleston Water System and the James Island Public Service District (JIPSD) have sewer lines throughout James Island. But the chance that continuous waste is coming from sewer lines compared to septic tanks is low:
“We have not had a sewer main break in all of James Island for about 15 years,” Saia said.
Furthermore, he clarified the cause for recent sewer leaks from Charleston Water System pipes: “None of our infrastructure has failed, but it’s been damaged by third parties on three occasions in the last five years,” he said. Charleston Water System has since made plans to reroute the vulnerable sewer mains that used to run where Harbor View Road crosses James Island Creek.
Waste problems for years
Local artist Mary Edna Fraser, who lives on James Island Creek close to the bridge, says high bacteria levels have been a problem since 2012. That’s when she “started getting sick swimming in the creeks,” she said.
The three local governments responsible for monitoring and improving bacteria levels in the creek — Charleston County and the municipalities of James island and Charleston — formed the James Island Creek Water Quality Task Force in February 2020. Since then, their main concern has been the cleanliness of the creek.
“The JIPSD began to seek grant funding from the state of South Carolina to allow for the expansion of sewer service in these areas,” according to the town of James Island’s website.
Whether the grant should be used to connect septic tanks to the mains has since created tensions among neighbors:
“It’s a real hot debate right now,” Fraser said. “People are hesitant to sign up because they don’t want to have to pay more money later,” she added.
But Fraser believes some matters shouldn’t be left up for debate.
“It’s a public health issue,” she said. “We should put in the lines whether people sign up or not.”
A look at the numbers
Overlooking the creek are 199 households that use septic tanks, 34 of which are Charleston Water System customers and 165 of which are JIPSD customers, Saia said. For its 34 customers, Charleston Water System had great news in August 2023.
“We found a way to remove repair funds to make the total connection cost-free,” Saia said. “On average, it could be said that that’s a $25,000 value per customer.”
But the utility’s toil wasn’t met with enthusiasm.
“Out of the 34 customers who were eligible to participate for free, zero signed up,” Saia said, adding that about a third of customers were initially interested but became discouraged by the predicted average monthly bill of $110.
Charleston Water System does not require septic tank users to connect to the mains through a mandatory connection ordinance, in contrast to the JIPSD.
“Typically, the communities that haven’t connected are older settlement communities,” Saia said. “If they have to connect, we might say to them, all of a sudden, ‘You have to connect — that costs $15,000. Please send the check this month.’ ”
So if the septic tanks are working, less affluent customers may not be willing or able to connect to the mains, according to Saia.
“We can’t require folks to connect,” agreed Wunderley of Charleston Waterkeeper. But he has hopes for the sewer expansion project to continue:
“What we see is a historic opportunity,” he said. “It’s never going to get cheaper and easier than it is now.”
“We’re going to continue to do the sampling work, measure the bacteria levels in the creek and let folks know when and where it’s safe to swim. We understand it won’t be cheap and it won’t be quick and it won’t be easy, but the opportunity right now is ripe.”
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