The Carolinas' Water War May Be Ending

In January 2007, the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission approved up to 10 million gallons of water per day to be withdrawn from the Catawba and used by the North Carolina cities of Concord and Kannapolis, located in the Rocky River basin. That decision sparked intense opposition in South Carolina and led to the Supreme Court filing later that year – State of South Carolina v. State of North Carolina, No. 138, Original, in the Supreme Court of the United States.

In late August this year, the Catawba-Wateree River Basin Bi-State Commission unanimously approved a resolution supporting an effort to settle the dispute using Duke Energy’s comprehensive relicensing agreement. That document, formed during a three-year span using 58,000 stakeholder hours with interest groups, resource agencies and water providers from both states, serves as Duke’s hydroelectric license application to continue operations along the Catawba beginning in 2008.

On November 12, 2010, representatives from attorney general offices in South Carolina and North Carolina presented a plan to end the Catawba River water dispute – the Carolinas’ Water War. Members of the Catawba-Wateree River Basin Advisory Commission who heard the presentation supported the arrangement. Now N.C. Sen. Clodfelter and S.C. Sen. Wes Hayes will head an effort to reach a water-use agreement between Duke Power, which uses water from the river, and legal teams from both states. Duke Energy and Catawba River Water Supply Project, both interveners in the federal case, supported the arrangement as well. Once S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster and N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper sign the agreement the Supreme Court case will be dismissed. However, McMaster has indicated that South Carolina won’t end its lawsuit until the deal is struck.

In the agreement, all users of Catawba water including interbasin transfers are subject to drought response plans “no less stringent” than those of Duke’s Low Inflow Protocol system, a much-heralded conservation tool introduced by the relicensing agreement. Both states, along with the Catawba-Wateree Water Management Group, must update the Catawba-Wateree River Basin Supply Study on water conditions every 10 years for possible modifications. For the term of Duke’s license, or until 2058, neither state is allowed to file a Supreme Court action against its neighbor as long as conditions of the agreement are followed.