Officials with a sewer district in Greenville County say Renewable Water Resources, or ReWa, forced it to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on what the officials call “unwarranted” upgrades to the sewer system.ReWa flow meters put out data that said too much inflow and infiltration (I/I), or stormwater and groundwater, was getting into Taylors’ sewer lines. Taylors crews in the field were not seeing what the data represented.“We have spent $700,000 on I/I issues that we feel just did not need to be spent,” said Taylors Sewer District Commissioner Jeff Hannah.The spending accounted for more than 30 percent of Taylors Fire and Sewer District expenditures in 2018.A TRI Environmental study in October 2019 on Taylors’ own meters revealed a calibration issue. When its meters were re-calibrated, the data started to reflect what was really happening in the sewer system.ReWa’s meters were not re-calibrated after the study.Taylors officials sent the study to ReWa, along with a letter dated Oct. 23.“ReWa has used this ‘Phantom I/I’ data to not only curtail new development in our area, but also to force us (and other SPDs) to spend millions of dollars in disproportionately unwarranted system lining and upgrades instead of regular maintenance and repair that would more than adequately address normal ranges of I/I,” the letter reads. ReWa’s chairman sent a response in a letter dated Nov. 7.“Unfortunately, Taylors Fire and Sewer District recently provided incorrect information about the shared challenges we all face as sewer providers, specifically within the realm of inflow and infiltration, or I/I, and the tremendous negative impact that I/I can have on our utilities,” the letter from the ReWa chairman reads.“I think what we're talking about is the incorrect assessment or analysis of what these flow meters and flow monitoring is actually trying to accomplish,” said ReWa spokesman Chad Lawson.Lawson said a third party audits and calibrates the ReWa meters annually.He pointed to a study underway that is attempting to find the “vulnerabilities” in the sewer system.“Relining pipes is actually a lot cheaper than replacing the pipes,” Lawson said, when asked why Taylors was told to spend money before the study was completed.Taylors says ReWa did not allow new developments like neighborhoods and subdivisions that need sewer access until the upgrades were made.Developers need both Taylors Sewer District and ReWa approval to add more sewer water to the system.Hannah said there were 15 or 16 subdivisions in the Taylors area alone that were on hold.“I can't speak for any other district,” he said. “I do know that there are other districts involved in this.”Ultimately, Taylors Sewer District would like final say over development in the area.ReWa maintains it has to manage growth that works for the Upstate, not just Taylors.“We're all pro-development,” Lawson said. “We want this area to grow. We want smart growth, we want smart development.”He said ReWa is invested in maintaining the entire sewer system.“When it comes to EPA and DHEC regulation, ReWa is the agency that's responsible and certainly will be responsible for any punitive result that comes from failure of any of these systems,” Lawson said. “Our skin in the game is certainly that we want this to be a collaborative approach to a major issue, but also that we're thinking ahead about the things that it might result from, from a regulatory standpoint.”Both sides agree an in-person meeting is needed.“What I think we're hoping is that we could have a face-to-face meeting with Taylors to talk about exactly what these challenges are,” Lawson said.“We want to work with ReWa, and we want ReWa to work with us,” Hannah said.The two sides disagree on the talking points of that meeting.“I will stand behind our data 100 percent, until it is proven to be wrong,” Hannah said.“ReWa stands behind the technology,” Lawson said.When asked what message ReWa would send to customers with meter data called into question, Lawson said ReWa has “tremendous confidence in the system.”