Published: Tuesday, Mar. 09, 2010 / Updated: Tuesday, Mar. 09, 2010 12:16 PM
Lawmakers look to ensure enough water for everyone
LAKE WYLIE --
New water withdrawal permitting proposals in both Carolinas may need help to become law, but local legislators continue fighting for them in hopes of passing bills this year.
N.C. Sen. Dan Clodfelter of Charlotte and S.C. Sen. Wes Hayes of Rock Hill, both long-time proponents of water permitting legislation, updated the Catawba-Wateree Bi-State Commission at its quarterly meeting Feb. 26 in Huntersville, N.C., about their ongoing efforts to mandate large water withdrawal permits. They say the bills would move their states forward not only in environmental management, but also economically.
New business would be assured adequate access to water if all major users had permits showing what drains they placed on the system, bill proponents say.
“Our local water supply models, as good as they are and as much good work as has gone into them, are really not adequate for forecasting future demands for issuing permits,” Clodfelter said.
Clodfelter isn’t waiting until North Carolina legislators return for session in May to work on it. He recently sent out a survey to large agricultural water users – a possible opponent to water permit requirements if included with industrial, municipal and other large users – and received back, what he called, a surprisingly positive response of more than 80 percent. What Clodfelter found is few of those users would be impacted by the 100,000 gallon per day threshold needed for a permit.
“The number of potential agricultural withdrawals impacted by this legislation and who would need a permit, and the total quantity of water that would be withdrawn by those users, was almost inconsequential,” he said.
Clodfelter said the permitting requirement may need to roll out on a pilot basis, perhaps on the Cape Fear or Catawba River basin, to fine-tune modeling before the permits become law. Issues such as how overall water supply and water quality play into permit requirements, he said, still need to be resolved.
“We’re still in the back room trying to figure out what we’re going to do with this bill,” Clodfelter said.
In South Carolina, Hayes sounds more confident in a law passing soon.
“We are close, and I think we’re going to have a fighting chance,” he said. “We’re going to have a tight window to get the bill passed this year.”
The effort began with a Hayes-sponsored bill years ago but now rests on a re-worded bill with other primary sponsors. Still at issue, said David Baize of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Bureau of Water, is minimum flow requirements.
“That was a robust discussion for many years, but it got worked out,” Baize said. “The questions being asked are more, what does this language mean?”
Initially a standard minimum flow of 20 percent was used, but a set number “doesn’t mimic what Mother Nature does,” Baize said. Now the bill calls for 20-40 percent variable and seasonal flows, basically saying the minimum amount of water needed with all allowed permits varies from season to season. With that addition, the bill began moving toward full Senate consideration.
“It has actually made it through Senate committee,” Baize said. “There are still some nips and tucks going on. My understanding is the House is sort of waiting for the Senate to get done tinkering.”
The remaining items to address include impoundments (water users closer to dams might see steadier and more predictable flows than users downstream), human vs. natural uses and an appeals process for extreme cases.
“We’ve learned from those extreme droughts that things we never thought could happen, happen,” Baize said.
Both Hayes and Clodfelter show optimism, and believe existing water users will see positive benefits from being guaranteed set amounts of water rather than negative ones. Hayes hopes legislators will see those same possibilities.
“I guess we’ll find out,” he said.
More local water issues
Along with the update on water permitting legislation, members of the Catawba-Wateree Bi-State Commission discussed several other issues impacting local water:
Bi-State commissioners showed optimism that the ongoing federal case between the Carolinas – with South Carolina suing North Carolina for “equitable apportionment” of Catawba River water – might still find resolution apart from the U.S. Supreme Court decision.
“I think the conversation between those two attorney generals are ongoing,” said S.C. Sen. Wes Hayes, “and there may come a point when they look to utilize the services of this commission.”
N.C. Sen. Dan Clodfelter said the commission, who previously offered to help broker an agreement between the state, provided an invaluable service if it “helped nudge that along.”
“It’s the first positive feeling I’ve had about that possibility in a long time,” he said.
Commissioners pointed to nothing concrete on the possibility, but will continue to encourage discussions between leaders of the two states they represent.
“I’m hopeful,” said S.C. Rep. Dr. Jimmy Bales.
As reported last week in the Lake Wylie Pilot, another issue taken up by the commission was abandoned construction sites releasing sediment into waterways, many caused by economic troubles of developers.
“Some of them are over 100 acres,” Catawba Riverkeeper David Merryman told the commission. “There’s one in Lancaster County that’s over 300 acres, and it’s falling apart.”
Commissioner Gary Faulkenberry said sites “are just pouring in sediment,” while Commissioner Rick Lee said sites are “bleeding into the river.” Specific locations on Lake Wylie were not given, though the commission said there were sites north of the lake. The group plans to look at options for tighter regulations from developers in hopes to keeping sites from becoming abandoned.
Catawba-Wateree Water Management Group Chairman Barry Gullet from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities and Vice-Chairman Jimmy Bagley from Rock Hill – also both Bi-State commissioners – said their group plans to have the first phase of a basin-wide master plan by the end of this year. The group began in 2007 as a result of a hydroelectric relicensing process by Duke Energy. It now includes 17 municipal and corporate members, and just last month launched a Web site at catawbawatereewmg.org.
One of the three formed committees within the group will deal with drought preparation, which Gullet said continues despite recent rains.
“It’s not dormant by any means,” he said. “I think we all realize the next drought is coming.”
As it normally does at its first meeting of the year, the group selected its officers for the coming year. Bales of Richland County accepted the chairman post while the group named N.C. Sen. Austin Allran, who represents Catawba and Iredell counties, vice chairman.
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