Cassatt Water Co. celebrating 40 years

Cassatt Water General Manager Charles Litchfield a Randy Burns / The Item

By RANDY BURNS
Item Staff Writer
rburns@theitem.com

Lee County's largest and most visible water provider will celebrate its 40th birthday in November.

Cassatt Water Co. began as a small community water system in 1969 serving residences in the Cassatt and Sandy Grove areas of Kershaw County.

Today, Cassatt has a service area of about 400 square miles and more than 10,000 commercial and residential water accounts in Kershaw, Lee, Lancaster and Sumter counties, serving an estimated 24,000 people, said General Manager Charles Litchfield.

Cassatt has about 3,000 clients in Lee County, Litchfield estimated. The company also serves about 100 customers in northern Sumter County.

"Water systems grow based on demand," he said.

"Cassatt now plays a significant role in the economies of Kershaw and Lee counties."

At the request of the city of Bishopville, Cassatt began providing water to a segment of the Interstate 20 and U.S. 15 industrial and commercial areas in 1989, said Operations Manager Steve Hunter.

Cassatt provides water to the I-20 Industrial Park on Browntown Road and businesses on the western side of U.S. 15, including Wilco Travel Plaza, Zaxby's Restaurant and Pizza Hut.

Plans for the future include improved service and continued growth, he said.

"We are presently working on long-range capital improvement plans to improve quality of service, keep rates below average, and ensure available capacity for future growth," Litchfield said.

The next area of expansion will focus upon areas near Exit 101 on I-20, Litchfield said.

About 85 percent of the company's water is acquired from 15 wells located in Kershaw and Lee counties, including five in Lee.

To keep up with customer demand, Cassatt now purchases additional finished water from Alligator Water Co. in McBee and the city of Camden to supplement its wells.

Cassatt employs 18 people, including eight technicians who monitor and maintain the company's wells and pipes. The technicians monitor the operations of the wells with laptop computers. They also are able to make some adjustments of the operations at their computers.

"We can monitor the operations of the wells without going to the well," Litchfield said. "We're taking advantage of technology to minimize labor costs, and we're saving money on mileage. We used to have two people who spent all their time traveling to the wells for monitoring."

Technicians are also able to read meters by using a laptop in the truck without getting out of the truck, Litchfield said. The technology is available in about half of the company's coverage area, he said.



Contact Staff Writer Randy Burns at rburns@theitem.com or (803) 491-4533.