NEWBERRY — Newberry County Water and Sewer Authority and the City of Newberry will continue to work together to provide water to the county.

The city and county water systems have extended their contract which started in February of 1987 with a few changes. The extension is for the next 20 years.

“The new agreement reflects the spirit of cooperation between the City of Newberry and NCWSA. Both parties are committed to providing safe and reliable water to meet the current and future demands of Newberry County,” according to NCWSA Manager Brent Richardson.

The county will continue to purchase water from the city with a minimum of seven million gallons purchased in a month. The current minimum was 7.25 million gallons a month.

Also the city is eliminating the penalties for NCWSA’s under usage of water.

The maximum amount purchased by NCWSA will increase from 14.5 million gallons a month to 30 million gallons a month or up to a million gallons a day.

This is close to the same amount of water that is purchased from the city by the Kraft Foods Louis Rich plant.

The city will continue to maintain the water meters and but NCWSA will start monitoring the back flow system.

The two agencies also agreed to meet together at least once a year to discuss issues and water usage but they hope to meet more often and even quarterly, said Newberry City Manager Jeff Shacker.

This water is produced on S.C. Highway 121 at the Saluda River. The NCWSA is increasing its plant on Lake Murray but will still use the city water to serve the Silverstreet and Bush River areas of the county.