New legislation would make IBTs harder to obtain

Charlotte’s attempt to siphon more water from the Catawba Basin now has some opponents in the General Assembly.

A bill introduced by Sen. Warren Daniel on Monday would make it more difficult for Charlotte to increase the amount of water it takes from the Catawba River Basin.

Senate Bill 428 places more stringent conditions on those seeking interbasin water transfers, especially ones of 30 million gallons per day (MGD) or more — which would be classified as “major transfers” under the new law.

Burke County Commissioner Randy Burns is an outspoken critic of Charlotte Water’s plan. He said he fully supports the proposed legislation.

“I’m excited about it,” Burns said Thursday. “I actually mentioned it earlier today in a meeting with VEDIC (Valdese Economic Development Investment Corporation) at lunch and said if anybody happens to run into the senator, give him a pat on the back for that one.”

As of Thursday, the bill had been referred to the rules committee (Committee on Rules and Operations of the Senate). Bills must pass the committee in order to make it to the Senate floor for debate.

The bill has been in the works for nearly a year: Daniel (R-Burke) announced his intent to begin working on it at the Burke Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Legislative Breakfast last May.

Meanwhile, public opposition to the increase has remained strong.

The legislation, filed by Daniel and co-sponsors Tim Moffitt (R-Henderson) and Mark Hollo (R-Catawba) comes in response to what some officials have called a “water grab” by the state’s largest city.

“The Catawba River is a limited resource that is vital to life and economic growth in western North Carolina,” Daniel said. “IBTs of the magnitude requested by Charlotte subsidize growth in other areas using the limited resources of the Catawba River.”

Early last May, Charlotte Water filed notice with the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality that it intended to ask for double the 33 MGD it is currently allowed to take from the Catawba via the 2002 interbasin transfer agreement (IBT).

Charlotte says it needs the extra water to support its projected growth over the next decade.

Daniel said the bill would force cities like Charlotte to manage growth more responsibly.

“Charlotte’s IBT request is an attempt to use the ‘easy’ button and transfer water from the Catawba basin rather than investing in their own infrastructure,” he said. “Businesses have to invest capital regularly to upgrade their infrastructure and maintain compliance with regulations.

“Charlotte Water should have to do the same.”

The certification process already requires the entity requesting a transfer to follow steps like producing an environmental impact statement (EIS) and holding public meetings. Charlotte Water is complying with those requirements.

Under the proposed law, restrictions would get tougher.

Some of the key features of the bill:

• Caps the transfer certificate at 20 years with no extensions.
• Increases the number of required public meetings from two to three, at least one each upstream, downstream, and in the receiving basin. In addition, county commissioners would have the right to set the locations for the meetings. The initial public forum Charlotte Water held last year was roundly criticized because it took place in a small venue in Hickory that could only hold about 200 people.
• Forces counties or municipalities in the transfer basin to set aside 10% of their gross revenues from water operations to fund infrastructure in the source basin.
• Requires applicants to fully explore alternative water sources and submit a preliminary cost estimate for all options before asking for a transfer. That would help ensure IBTs would be a last resort.
• Requires systems seeking transfers to demonstrate the ability to consistently show a water loss of 15% (due to leaks, evaporation, meter inaccuracy, etc.) or lower over the life of the transfer.

Chuck Willis of Willis Engineering, which is currently in the midst of a comprehensive assessment of Burke County’s water and sewer system, said recently a 15% average loss is the industry standard.

• Requires certificate holders to report water transfer amounts quarterly instead of yearly.
• Imposes stricter and more detailed requirements for environmental impact statements.

It all adds up to what Daniel called “a common-sense effort to make sure that before a municipality can request a large IBT, they must first show that they are good stewards of the water resources they currently have.”

A coalition of local governments in the Catawba Basin has organized under the direction of the Western Piedmont Council of Governments to fight the attempted increase.

Burke County, the City of Morganton, Valdese, and Rutherford College are all part of the combined effort, which includes Burke, four other counties — Alexander, Caldwell, Catawba, and McDowell — and a couple dozen municipalities.

Charlotte Water hosted a meeting at the City of Morganton Municipal Auditorium (CoMMA) last summer and was met with stiff opposition from residents of the Catawba Basin.