Frequently Asked Questions:
Project SAFE (Sewer Access for Everyone) offers grants to cover all or a portion of the costs associated with connecting to the sewer system. The program is available for homeowners who are at a certain income level. For more information, contact Deep Well at 843-785-2849 or e-mail [email protected].
The PSD urges homeowners to connect their properties before their septic system breaks. It’s important to get on our waiting list because it can take weeks to schedule your conversion from septic to the public sewer system due to contractor availability.
You’re not allowed to have a failing septic system. Where public sewer is available, repairs to failing septic systems are not allowed, nor may any new septic systems be installed, per DHEC regulations.
The Town of Hilton Head Island’s Sewer Connection Program is a grant program to help income-qualified Hilton Head Island homeowners and renters connect to public sewer. If your household does not fully qualify for a sewer assistance grant from Project SAFE (Sewer Access for Everyone), you may be eligible for a Town sewer connection grant. For more information, click here.
Sewer Types
The PSD sewer system consists of two types of residential sewer service – gravity sewer and low-pressure sewer (LPS). The engineering of the PSD sewer system in your neighborhood determines whether your connection will be gravity or LPS.
What to expect
Gravity Sewer
Gravity sewer is PVC pipe on your private property that then connects your home to the PSD sewer main in the street. For gravity sewer, owners are responsible for any maintenance or replacement costs of the gravity sewer line on their private property.
LPS
LPS is a grinder unit, electrical panel, and HDPE line on your private property that then connects to the PSD sewer main in the street. LPS customers will experience an electrical cost of operating the LPS grinder unit, which typically will amount to about $20/yr. LPS comes with lifetime maintenance and replacement costs covered by the PSD, unless systematic abuse is shown by the customer (e.g. repeated flushing of inappropriate wastes that damage the LPS unit).
Once your home is connected to either type of sewer, you will be responsible for a monthly charge for sewer services on your PSD bill.