Pipe in the ground on a planned northern loop to Westminster’s water system will mean the city’s water service will be more reliable, according to Westminster officials.

The lines’ installation now underway were part of a plan originally conceived more than three years ago when Westminster’s water system was managed by the now-abolished Commission for Public Works, City Administrator David Smith said.

But it was the recent completion of the city’s 500,000-gallon elevated storage tank outside of town on S.C. 11 that made the new line essential, he said.

“We’re feeding it (the tank) with the decrepit old lines running along the street out there,” Smith said, indicating Westminster’s Main Street seen through his office window. “But if something happened and we couldn’t use those lines, we’d have enough pressure to serve the west side of town, but not the other side of town. We need that connectivity.”

Right now, said Smith, the city of Walhalla’s water system actually serves some of Westminster’s customers in the area the northern loop will serve. The upgrade will render that unnecessary.

Other plans call for upgraded service lines down S.C. 11 to the industrial park, connecting with those of the Pioneer Water District, which is supplied by both Westminster and Seneca.

Without a pinpoint completion target date, the new line system is expected to cost about $1 million, Smith said, more than the approximately $780,000 project estimate at the time the defunct CPW planned it.

“One reason not to delay these things is that cost only goes up,” said the administrator.

The Westminster City Council has already approved an increase in the city’s water rates of 25 cents per thousand gallons, beginning Sept. 1. Rates for city residents will then be $2.05 per thousand, up from the present $1.80, and rates for non-residents will rise to $2.53.

Jan. 1, the Pioneer Water District will see an increase of 20 cents per thousand in its rate.

All revenue from the increase will be segregated to pay for the new line system, said Smith, which, he reiterated, is essential.

“I’ve got a lot of elevated capacity out there,” he said, referring to the 500,000-gallon storage tank. “But if I can’t feed it, it’s useless.”