There's something rotten in Sun City

Joe and Janet Whetstone live beside a lagoon in Sun City Hilton Head and never thought fecal coliform levels would matter much to them.

That was until Sunday when Joe Whetstone saw raw sewage oozing out of manholes on Hamilton Drive and spilling into drains that run into the lagoon.

He reported the problem to the development's security at 8:30 a.m. The Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority said it was notified at 10 a.m.

Jerrie Lagare, the authority's communications manager, said a circuit breaker tripped at the Argent Way pumping station, causing a power failure. Instead of being pushed into the Cherry Point Regional Facility, which treats 3 million gallons per day for Bluffton and Sun City, the raw sewage accumulated and overflowed.

The spill was under control by 11 a.m., the authority said.

Lagare said about 500 gallons spilled into the lagoon, which is home to some alligators and often used for catch and release fishing.

On Monday, the authority notified the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, which took samples of the water to test fecal coliform amounts.

If levels are too high, the authority will restrict the lagoon's use. If several thousand gallons had seeped into the lagoon, Lagare said, it would already be put under restrictions.

Argent Way's pumping station does not have technology to automatically alert the main operations center in Chelsea when there is a problem. Lagare said the authority plans to upgrade about 50 pumping stations, including Argent Way, with an automatic alert system in the coming months.