Burke Commissioners to hear update on fight against Charlotte water grab

The fight to prevent Charlotte Water from drastically increasing its take from the Catawba River system will take center stage at Monday’s Burke Board of Commissioners with an update from one of the battle’s key combatants.

Anthony Starr, executive director of the Western Piedmont Council of Governments (WPCOG), will bring the board up to speed on the efforts of a coalition of local governments along the Catawba chain, including Burke, in the struggle to prevent what many have dubbed a “water grab.”

The meeting — with a lengthy agenda — is set for 6 p.m. Monday in the Commissioners Board Room at 110 N. Green St. in Morganton.

WPCOG is coordinating the fight on behalf of those communities. Burke County, Morganton, Valdese, and Rutherford College are among those who have joined the legal fray, and all have passed resolutions opposing the increase.

Charlotte Water, the largest water and wastewater utility in the Carolinas, already pulls up to 33 million gallons per day (MGD) from the river as permitted by the 2002 Interbasin Transfer Agreement (IBT).

Citing the need to support projected future development, Charlotte wants to up its limit to 63 MGD. Not surprisingly, that announcement, which came last May, raised hackles all over western North Carolina.

Starr said Wednesday he plans to present a brief history of IBTs in North Carolina; an overview of the river itself; a description of the process Charlotte must go through to be approved for the request by the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) and Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ); the formation of the coalition to oppose the move; and the concerns those entities have with the request.

He said it’s important to provide a comprehensive overview of the entire process since the two newest commissioners, Mike Stroud and Brian Barrier, joined the board in December after the opposition was well underway.

Charlotte Water has held several public meetings in communities all along the Catawba system, including one in Morganton last July. That meeting, held at the City of Morganton Municipal Auditorium (CoMMA) was well attended, with the vast majority of attendees speaking in opposition to the hike.

A key step in the process will be an Environmental Impact Study (EIS), which Charlotte Water must complete and submit to the EMC and DEQ. The process can take years to complete.

Another presentation from the WPCOG, this one by Avery Ritchie, transportation planning manager, will outline the Greater Hickory Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (GHMPO) transportation plan.

Ritchie will cover the MPO’s long-range transportation plans for the region, which includes Burke, Alexander, Catawba, and Caldwell counties.

In addition, the commissioners will likely approve a project management agreement with Burke Partnership for Economic Development (BDI) to move forward with plans to construct at least one shell, or speculative, industrial building at the Burke Business Park near Exit 96 off I-40.

The project will be funded by $20 million in state money, which is part of the $35.8 million allotment the county received in 2023 for purchase and development of the Great Meadows Industrial Site (the megasite).

Burke County and BDI are required to enter into such an agreement according to legislation passed late last year by the General Assembly when it approved the county’s request to reallocate the funds.