The William Dudley Gregorie Pump Station (historically known as the Lockwood Drive pump station) is the crowning jewel of Charleston’s massive $198 million Spring-Fishburne Drainage Project. Positioned prominently between the Ashley River Bridges, this critical infrastructure piece is a powerhouse designed to tackle the city’s worst chronic flooding.

The station houses three custom-built, four-story-tall pumps. Together, they can drain an Olympic-sized swimming pool’s worth of stormwater in under two minutes. The building you see on Lockwood Drive is just the tip of the iceburg. It connects to a massive 1.5-mile network of deep tunnels, pipes, and shafts dug up to 150 feet below the city peninsula. The system siphons water out of a 500-acre basin covering 20% of the peninsula, protecting critical arteries like the Medical District and the Septima P. Clark Parkway (the Crosstown). The massive four-story pumps were custom-manufactured and tested in Wisconsin, requiring highly strategic logistics to truck them down to South Carolina in multiple pieces.

In late 2025, the Charleston City Council unanimously voted to name the station after William Dudley Gregorie, a 16-year veteran of the City Council. Mayor William Cogswell jokingly noted that Gregorie was famously “obsessed” with water infrastructure and flood mitigation for his vulnerable district.

This week, I had the honor of photographing the pump station for Harper General Contractors, who’s work was critical in the success of this project.

* Nikon Z9, Nikkor Z 24-120 f4, Nikkor Z 14-30 f4, DJI Mavic 3 Pro *