Blog - October 2014

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The following links provide news and commentary about issues related to the Surface Water Withdrawal Law of South Carolina.

SC Rivers Forever - a coalition of organizations advocating for healthy rivers and communities

A graph to explain how "safe yield" poses a threat our rivers

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Resident, DHEC square off on mega farms water withdrawals in SC (The State News, October 16, 2014)   —     Doug Busbee has spent nearly a year trying to keep mega farms from siphoning too much water from the Edisto River basin near his home.

Early Thursday, he drove from Aiken County to a scientific conference in Columbia and put government regulators on the spot before a ballroom filled with people.

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SC Water Resources Conference: Video of "Day 2 Plenary Q&A Session is well worth watching. Important ideas are presented about water policy and planning priorities from SC conservation leaders. The other video of Plenary Sessions of the Conference are informative as well.

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T&D News, Oct 11, 2014 -- A group of South Carolina landowners, including one from Bamberg County, are suing to overturn the portion of the state’s 2010 water withdrawal law that sets up different rules for agriculture and industry.

The landowners’ main concern is that agricultural users can take out the same amount of water at all times under the law without regard to water flows, said attorney Amy Armstrong of the South Carolina Environmental Law Project. “It creates a certain, special class of water withdrawal exemptions from the regular permitting process,” she said.

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Guest editorial in The State, Oct 10, 2014 -- Stronger Protections needed for precious SC surface waters --

Columbia, SC — The registration that allowed a single farm to withdraw up to two-thirds of the South Fork Edisto River’s flow during low-flow conditions demonstrates the need for legislative action on state water policy.

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Individuals representing the South Carolina Farm Bureau and the agricultural business community are saying that "sound science" is the basis of both the 2010 South Carolina Surface Water Withdrawal Act and a recent water-withdrawal registration granted to an Aiken potato farm. Some agricultural leaders are saying there is no problem with the new surface water law and it needs to be given time to work.