H2Oh! WaterVision an eye opener

By Rebecca Troutman
Intergovernmental Relations Director

Alan Peoples, mayor of the Town of Tryon in Polk County, discussed the Tryon-Saluda-Columbus Crisis Water Project during a breakout session. (Photo courtesy Matt Lail/NCLM)

Couple North Carolina’s driest year in history with a predicted explosion in population over the next 20 years – and our state’s water supply and the systems that deliver potable water to our taps – and the need becomes evident that public stewards develop and share best practices to protect and maximize water availability.

So goes the thought behind WaterVision, a May 22 forum that explored the future of water resources in North Carolina. Sponsored jointly as a Local Elected Leaders Academy (LELA) seminar by the NCACC, the N.C. League of Municipalities and the School of Government, WaterVision brought together more than 125 local government elected officials, managers and public water system practitioners to share lessons learned from the current drought and opinions on what preparations are needed in order to accommodate future water needs.

Georgia water allocation model has supporters in N.C.

According to University of Georgia Professor James Kundell, the Southeast has more water than any other area in the U.S. The supply is there – it just needs to be managed better.

Kundell noted that states east of the Mississippi historically relied on riparian rights – those adjacent to a water supply having the right to a reasonable use of water – while western states adopted prior appropriation allocations – a first come, first served, last to lose property right of water. He cautioned that both allocation mechanisms are reactive in nature without adequate response measures to growth.

Because of that, the southeast in particular is seeing an emergency of administrative permit systems that focus on proposed water uses. In fact, North Carolina led the way in 1967 by adopting a “capacity use area” in the coastal plains as a response to groundwater depletion.

After many fits and starts, the State of Georgia recently enacted far-reaching legislation that sets the future for water allocation. Upon recommendation of the Georgia Water Council – a statewide planning body of key legislators, agency heads and legislative appointees – the state is implementing 11 sub-state water districts to shift future water allocation planning to 11 newly created, 25-member regional authorities, with policy and rules implementation by local and state agencies. Some in North Carolina are pointing to the Georgia plan as a model for future water allocation planning.

Attendees explore regional solutions

Attendees identified water resources and supply – particularly water and wastewater systems maintenance, upgrade and expansion – as one of the 10 major challenges facing local governments today. Jeff Hughes, director of the School of Government’s Environmental Finance Center, elicited an audible gasp from the audience when he noted that local governments collected over $2 billion in water and wastewater receipts in 2007, and that North Carolina houses more than 2,000 separate water systems.

A series of afternoon breakout sessions explored regional solutions to regional problems; paying for safe, sustainable water; and growth and water issues.

The regional breakout session featured four different models of regional collaboration, some of which have been utilized for years. For example, Bob Hibbitts, a past president of the Association, has chaired the Catawba River Study Committee since its inception in 1986. This committee, comprised of five counties paying dues in support of committee activities, has set recommendations for such water policies as jet ski legislation, interbasin transfer and fish health monitoring.

Attendees from each breakout session reported back to the full group practices to emulate and practices to avoid during a closing plenary moderated by NCACC Deputy Director Patrice Roesler and NCLM Executive Director Ellis Hankins.

Visit the School of Government’s “Water Wiki” – water.unc.edu – an online collaborative tool to read and write about water governance issues in the Southeast, particularly in North Carolina. It includes more information on riparian rights, gray water uses, low-inflow protocols, desalination, and the statewide water allocation study, just to name a few.