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They say you have to be good and lucky to be successful in business. The South Carolina Upstate certainly qualifies for the category of the "good and lucky." With a skilled work force steeped in the Southern tradition of a strong work ethic to complement its abundance of natural resources, the Upstate is considered by many of the world's manufacturers to be one of the top areas to locate a new manufacturing plant. 
The Spartanburg Water System has an abundant supply of pristine water supplied by the South Pacolet River, Lake Reservoir # 1, Lake Bowen and Lake Blalock.
The Spartanburg Water System's charter was issued in 1887, and serves the Spartanburg County area. In 1925, a dam and filter plant was constructed on the South Pacolet River that created Lake Reservoir # 1. Lake Reservoir # 1 contains one billion gallons of water. The R. B. Simms treatment plant was also constructed to assure the water quality from Lake Reservoir # 1.
In 1960, a new dam was constructed, creating Lake Bowen to further increase the reservoir capacity for the water system. Lake Bowen contains nine billion gallons of fresh water. The water from Lake Bowen feeds into the R. B. Simms treatment plant. The R. B. Simms treatment plant has a treatment capacity of 63,500,000 gallons per day.
The system's reserves received another huge increase in 1996 when Lake Blalock was created with a man-made dam. Lake Blalock currently contains four billion gallons of fresh water. In 1999, the Lake Blalock Water Treatment Plant began operations, and this increased the capacity of the water system by 22,500,000 gallons per day. 
The Spartanburg Water System will soon be raising the height of the Lake Blalock Dam an additional ten feet to further increase its reservoirs. This will expand Lake Blalock's reserves to eight billion gallons of water.
According to Graham Rich, general manager of the Spartanburg Water System, "Once the Lake Blalock Dam is raised ten additional feet, our three lakes combined will contain more than 22 billion gallons of fresh water to supply the Spartanburg area. Currently, the Spartanburg Water System has an average daily production capacity of 84,000,000 gallons, but is only using 50% of this capacity on an average daily basis."
Rich also said, "The Upstate area has been experiencing drought conditions over the past three years, but all three reservoir lakes are currently at their top levels, and have remained full throughout the drought period."
The topography of the Upstate includes the mountainous northern sector that contains the lower reaches of the Southern Appalachians and the middle and southern sectors of the upstate that contain mostly level terrain. The northern mountainous section affords the Upstate residents with some great outdoor activities such as hiking, camping and sightseeing, while the level terrain in the middle and lower Upstate areas provide the level building sites needed for manufacturing plants.
The transportation infrastructure needed to attract manufacturers is also in place. Interstate-26 and I-85 crisscross the Upstate, providing fast and easy access to all sectors of the Upstate. The I-85 corridor is considered one of the choice manufacturing areas in the U. S.
The Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport has been expanded into a world-class airport, and handled over 1,500,000 passengers in 2000.
The GSP International Airport has also expanded the length of its runways to accommodate the increased traffic and to handle cargo jets. Since the local BMW plant uses Boeing 747 cargo planes to deliver parts, the expansion was necessary. A fully loaded Boeing 747 cargo jet requires a longer runway than a passenger Boeing 747 jet. 
And luck, well the Upstate has its share of that, too. The luck comes in the form of the Transco natural gas pipeline that traverses the U. S. from the natural gas fields in Texas to New York State. The Transco natural gas pipeline was built 51years ago and just happens to travel across the Upstate following I-85 north through North Carolina. This pipeline provides the Upstate with a plentiful supply of natural gas at either retail or wholesale prices.
Manufacturers who choose to locate in the Upstate are able to avoid the cost of installing natural gas pipelines over long distances. They can simply tap into the existing gas lines that Piedmont Natural Gas Co. already has in place. Or, if they are a company that operates a gas-fired steam turbine electric generating plant, they can purchase the gas wholesale by tapping directly into the Transco natural gas pipeline.
This abundant supply of natural gas has also attracted electric power generating companies that operate gas-fired steam turbines. The GE Power Systems plant, located in Greenville, manufactures the steam turbines used in these types of electric power generating plants, and has received orders to supply the turbines for some of these new gas-fired steam power plants.
For the Upstate, it pays to be good and lucky.
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