EDITORIAL: S.C.-N.C. Water Fight Lies Ahead: N.C. Water Transfer Could Harm Our Communities

By The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Jan. 16–Why does it matter to our communities that an N.C. board last week allowed two N.C. Piedmont cities, Concord and Kannapolis, to transfer up to 10 million gallons of water per day from the Yadkin River in the western part of that state? On downstream, the Yadkin joins with other N.C. streams to form the Pee Dee River. And the Pee Dee is the chief water supply for Georgetown, Pawleys Island and upstream S.C. communities.

The N.C. Environmental Management Commission also allowed the communities to transfer 10 million gallons per day from the Catawba River, which flows through the S.C. Piedmont and Midlands regions. These water transfers may be no big deal to folks on the S.C. side of the state line. Abundant rainfall, after all, is the norm in the Carolinas.

But at times when rainfall is not abundant, water flowing down the Yadkin-Pee Dee system to Winyah Bay can slow to a trickle, allowing salt water to flow up the bay. Slowing Pee Dee water flow can also pull salt water toward other rivers that flow into the bay, as well as their tributaries, including Bull Creek, which supplies much of Horry County’s drinking water.

That’s exactly what happened during the summer of 2002 when what turned out to be the tail end of a five-year drought exacerbated by water hogging in several privately controlled N.C. lakes slowed the Pee Dee’s flow into the bay to a trickle. For a few days, salt water lapped at Georgetown’s water intake — exacerbated in part by water usage in upstream S.C. communities eager to protect their own supplies. Even Grand Strand Water & Sewer Authority’s intake on Bull Creek, 20 miles inland, was at risk of being overtaken by salt water.

The crisis eased when former S.C. Gov Jim Hodges and S.C. water officials persuaded Alcoa and Duke Energy to release extra water from the N.C. lakes they control. But if — no, when — the Carolinas experience another protracted drought, that 10-million-gallon daily diversion for Concord and Kannapolis could cause our downstream communities real harm, as could the shrinkage of the Catawba’s flow into South Carolina by 10 million gallons daily.

The water in the upstream reaches of the Yadkin and Catawba rivers should not be North Carolina’s alone. South Carolina should be entitled to a fixed share — though the two Carolinas, unfortunately, have never agreed to a water compact settling that issue.

Fortunately, S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster is on the case. McMaster had threatened to sue North Carolina if the commission approved the Kannapolis-Concord water transfer and now will have to follow suit. Given the intransigence of N.C. officials on this issue, this may be a dispute that the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately decides — costing S.C. taxpayers a bundle in legal fees and court costs.

So be it. This issue is too important to the life of many S.C. communities, ours included, for McMaster to overlook the arrogance of N.C. water authorities.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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