South Carolina Takes Critical Step Toward Ensuring Reliable, Predictable Clean Water Supplies

Governor signs South Carolina Surface Water Withdrawal, Permitting, Use, and Reporting Act

June 24, 2010

Columbia – Governor Sanford held a signing ceremony today to celebrate the passage of a law that is an important step toward ensuring reliable, predictable clean water supplies for the state’s communities and protecting the health of the state’s rivers and lakes. American Rivers, the Coastal Conservation League, and other partners worked for years to negotiate the provisions in the act.

“The majority of South Carolinians get their drinking water from rivers and lakes, so protecting the health of these waterways is essential,” said Gerrit Jobsis, Southeast regional director for American Rivers. “This bill is a critical milestone toward smarter, more cost-effective management of our limited water resources. It delivers the reliability and predictability that we all need.”

“South Carolina now recognizes that water is a public resource that has to be protected from overuse in order to protect fishing, recreation, and navigation.  This bill is an important first step in protecting South Carolina against future droughts and other states that are after our water,” said Dana Beach, Executive Director of the Coastal Conservation League.

The Surface Water Withdrawal Permitting, Use, and Reporting Act will give water managers a full picture of who is taking how much water and when, and where that water is being used.  This full picture of water use is critical to effective water management and is essential information as South Carolina negotiates with other states over shared water resources like the Savannah, Catawba-Wateree, and Pee Dee rivers.

The act also:

• Establishes a permitting system for water withdrawals over three million gallons per month and lays out requirements to protect fish and wildlife and downstream users.
• Sets seasonally variable minimum instream flows for new users that will protect migrating fish populations and floodplain wetlands, which are important for flood protection and clean water supplies.
• Requires new users to have contingency plans so that they can cease their consumptive use of water when stream flows get too low, protecting wildlife, navigation, recreation, and downstream users.

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American Rivers is the leading conservation organization fighting for healthy rivers so communities can thrive. American Rivers protects and restores America's rivers for the benefit of people, wildlife and nature. Founded in 1973, American Rivers has more than 65,000 members and supporters, with offices in Washington, DC and nationwide.