SALUDA – The City of Saluda has seen a dramatic decrease in its water loss since 2016 thanks to work done by the city’s public works department.

The Saluda Board of Commissioners met May 8 and heard from city manager Jon Cannon, who reported that in just a year, the city’s water loss has decreased from 80 percent to 40-50 percent.

Cannon said the public works department has worked diligently on finding and repairing leaks. He said every year the city has to submit a report to the state on the water loss and Saluda began 2016 with 70-80 percent water loss and towards the end of 2016, Saluda was losing 40-50 percent of its water.

“They have worked tirelessly,” Cannon said.

Cannon said the savings is seen in the amount of water purchased from Hendersonville. The city has dropped to purchasing around 70,000 gallons per day from Hendersonville, compared to the previous purchase of 100,000 and above range a year ago.

Last May the city saw dramatic decrease in costs of purchasing water from Hendersonville after a major water line break was discovered in a water line on Greenville Street. After fixing that one leak, the city saw a $2,100 per month reduction in monthly water purchases to Hendersonville. Prior to the Greenville Street leak fix, Saluda was purchasing $168 per day, or more than $5,000 per month for water.

The leak was discovered behind the city fire station last year. The leak was estimated to be wasting 50,000-60,000 gallons of water per day.

Saluda was recently approved for a $1.9 million USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) loan to complete 16 projects within the city to fix water and sewer issues.

Saluda has water and sewer rate increases, beginning last year through 2018, to pay back the loan, with some of the projects scheduled to break ground next spring.