DATE: September 30, 2008

CONTACT: Gene Eidson, 864-710-0882
geidson@clemson.edu

WRITER: Peter Hull, 843-554-7226, ext. 118
phull@clemson.edu

Statewide conference to address South Carolina’s water resources

NORTH CHARLESTON — South Carolina’s most valuable natural resource — water — is in high demand.

The state’s population is forecast to swell by more than 28 percent during the next two decades to more than 5.1 million people. Power stations and heavy industry use millions of gallons of water a year for cooling systems and other processes.

And water has become such a vital commodity that the Palmetto State is locked in a legal dispute with North Carolina over the diversion of the Catawba River for drinking water and other uses in the fast-growing Charlotte area.

Such issues are the subject of the 2008 S.C. Water Resources Conference, where scientists, policy makers and industry leaders will discuss the role water plays in our quality of life and economy.

Speakers at the two-day conference include representatives from the state’s universities, federal and state agencies, environmental engineering consultants and municipalities. Panel sessions include water quality and quantity issues, water conservation and demand, future needs and economic development.

Attorney General Henry McMaster will deliver the Oct. 14 luncheon address on water issues and their effects on South Carolina.

“Water quality and water quantity determines economic vitality,” said Gene Eidson, director of the Clemson University Center for Watershed Excellence, lead sponsor of the conference. “Competing demand has become a key issue,” he said.

In addition to the legal dispute with North Carolina, South Carolina is in discussions with Georgia regarding water allocation from the Savannah River.

Eidson, who also serves as director of the Clemson University Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science in Georgetown, said that as the state’s population grows, potential policy changes must be addressed in order for South Carolina to sustain its economy.

To register and for full conference details visit: www.scwaterconference.org.

END

Conference planning committee: Beaufort-Jasper Water Authority, BP Barber Engineers, Clemson University Center for Watershed Excellence, Coastal Carolina University, College of Charleston, Corps of Engineers-SAC, Medical University of South Carolina — Biomedicine & Environmental Sciences Center, NOAA-Hollings Marine Laboratory, Santee Cooper, S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, S.C. Department of Health & Environmental Control — Water Bureau and Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, S.C. Department of Natural Resources — Hydrology and Marine Research, University of South Carolina — School of the Environment, USDA Forest Service, USGS-South Carolina.

Financial sponsors: BP Barber; Charleston Water System; Clemson University — Center for Computing and Information Technology, Center for Watershed Excellence, Restoration Institute and Thurmond Institute — S.C. Water Resources Center; College of Charleston; Duke Energy; McAngus, Goudelock and Courie; PBS&J; Santee Cooper; S.C. DHEC; S.C. Sea Grant Consortium; University of South Carolina — School of the Environment; USGS-South Carolina.