Burke County may benefit from 2-year freeze on big water diversions

A newly signed North Carolina law is hitting the pause button on large-scale transfers of surface water between river basins — a move that could have important implications for the Catawba River and Burke County communities that depend on it.

House Bill 850, or “Interbasin Transfer Moratorium/Study,” ratified on June 30 and signed into law on July 9, imposes a moratorium on the issuance of new certificates for surface water transfers that exceed 15 million gallons per day between river basins. The moratorium will remain in effect until March 21, 2027.

The North Carolina Senate Agriculture, Energy, and Environment Committee approved the House proposal. Primary sponsor Rep. Jay Adams (R-Catawba) said that in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, he spent a lot of time at the Hickory Regional Airport. Flying along on some rescue missions, he said he was able to observe the displacement of water around Lake James and the Linville Gorge.

“Lake James had kind of a caramel look to it, whereas it’s normally one of the most pristine lakes in the Catawba River system, so that was very alarming for me to see,” he said.

The bill reflects growing concern among lawmakers that the state’s decades-old surface water transfer laws need an overhaul in light of North Carolina’s rapid population growth, increasingly severe natural disasters, and rising demand on water systems.

According to the bill, the General Assembly finds that surface water transfers — especially large ones — can have significant effects on overall water flow, future water storage, and the long-term needs of both people and ecosystems in source river basins.

The law doesn’t call out Burke County by name, but given its location in the Catawba Basin, the pause on new/expanded transfers beyond 15 MGD could indeed help safeguard its water resources.

To guide potential changes in water law, the bill directs the North Carolina Collaboratory at UNC-Chapel Hill to study the current process for approving surface water transfers. The study will include a review of environmental impact assessments, how decisions affect lower-income and lower-population communities, the influence of climate trends like drought and flooding, and whether current practices encourage sustainable land use and infrastructure planning.

The Collaboratory is required to consult with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other public or private water managers as part of the review. It will report its findings — and any proposed new legislation — to the 2027 General Assembly.

For now, no new certificates for major surface water transfers will be issued in North Carolina. Whether that leads to new protections for upstream communities like Morganton remains to be seen.