Keep pressure on water planning, halt high-volume discounts, state leaders say

Published: October 11, 2012

COLUMBIA — South Carolina has plenty of water. The challenge is managing the natural resource, according to a panel of legislators.

Six state senators and representatives discussed such issues as surface water permits, preserving wetlands, saltwater intrusion and marketplace water pricing at Thursday's S.C. Water Resources Conference.

Decoupling was the provocative idea of the morning, as Sen. Phil Leventis noted that water pricing should to be revamped. Instead of discounting the price for customers who use more water, Leventis said it should be the reverse. The more consumers use, the more they should pay.

The other panelists, Sens. Paul Campbell and Vincent Sheehen and Reps. Don Bowen, Nelson Hardwick and David Hiott, spoke about issues that affect their regions.

Hardwick, from Horry County, reminded the Upstate that water needs to flow downstate to keep saltwater from backing up into rivers, which causes problems for coastal water treatment facilities. Some Upstate leaders want to build reservoirs to provide water during droughts and to deal with growth.

Speaking during lunch, Col. Alvin Taylor, S.C. Department of Natural Resources director, said there are communities on the coast where saltwater is ruining wells. He knows firsthand because he owns a house in North Charleston.

"I hate to get up on Saturday morning and find out the there's no freshwater in the jug in the refrigerator and I have to drive to Hollywood to get more," he said.

He said keeping the water issue front and center before the public and state lawmakers must be a priority.

"We reach a crisis, then it goes away, and we go back to the way things were," he said.

Waiting for the next water shortage is not an option, he said. 

Campbell recapped the Surface Water Permitting Act, passed during the last legislative session, and the need to fund regulation and enforcement of the law.

He also talked about the wetland and Carolina bay study committee he oversees, which will meet for the second time in the next few weeks. The committee's goal, said Campbell, is to see that new rules are "not abusive to business."

Gene Eidson, conference co-chairman and director of the Clemson University Institute of Applied Ecology, asked the panelists, "What can we do? You have a tremendous pool of talent and expertise in this room. We want to share it and help you."

The panelists said the conference attendees should compile a list of the top 10 water priorities in the state.

More than 300 political leaders, environmental officials, scientists and engineers from academia and industry attended the conference. It was coordinated by Clemson University’s Center for Watershed Excellence in conjunction with a statewide planning committee. 

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