'There's Not Enough Water': Foothills Residents Sound Off Against the Catawba River Basin Water Transfer
During a public forum regarding Charlotte's request for an additional 30 million gallons per day from the Catawba River Basin, residents decried its impact on the Foothills region.
MORGANTON, North Carolina—Is a water withdrawal the same as a transfer?
Many foothills residents remain unsure after a roughly two-hour public forum hosted at the CoMMA on Monday night by the Charlotte Water Interbasin Project.
The information meeting was designed to clarify concerns regarding the transfer of an additional 30 million gallons of water a day from the Catawba River Basin into the Rocky River Basin to support the explosion in growth of the eastern Charlotte area.
This includes the towns of Matthews, Mint Hill, Pineville, Huntersville, Davidson, and Cornelius in Greater Mecklenburg County.
Those in attendance expressed extreme misgivings over its impact on Lake James water levels, local water quality, regional agriculture, economic health, and nearby ecosystems, including the more than 70,000 acres currently protected by the Foothills Conservancy, most of which are fed by the pristine waters of the Catawba River Basin.
In other words, water is so central to one’s sense of place.
According to the current interbasin transfers (IBT) certificate issued in 2002 by the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission (EMC), Charlotte is already permitted to transfer up to 33 million gallons per day.
The new request would roughly double that limit.
As you might imagine, residents from counties near the headwaters of the Catawba River, including McDowell, Burke, Caldwell, Alexander, and Catawba, were frustrated and deeply concerned.
Nearly every person who spoke during the open comments portion of the evening opposed the transfer.
Numerous municipalities and county governments northwest of Charlotte have already voiced their opposition to the request.
A resolution voted on unanimously by Rutherford College’s Town Council states this transfer “could lead to greater concentrations of pollutants in the river, diminishing the river’s natural ability to dilute and transport pollutants, and have a detrimental effect on the aquatic ecosystem.”
They’ve forwarded their disapproval to EMC, the agency responsible for approving or rejecting Charlotte's request.
One sentiment was reiterated throughout the evening.
This is Charlotte’s problem to fix and communities further up the Catawba River shouldn’t have to suffer further because of the city’s inability to address issues resulting from unsustainable growth.
Should Poorer Counties Upriver Subsidize Wealthier Towns in Mecklenburg?
Foothills counties find it unfair that they should have to subsidize Mecklenburg County, which resides among the top 10 wealthiest in North Carolina, with a median income of $73,124, according to 2023 data collected by SmartAsset.
In contrast, Burke County ranks 65th in the Tarheel State with a median income of $48,142. Caldwell is 62nd with $48,549, while McDowell sits at 56th with $50,615.
“Do we have the right to refuse our water going down to Charlotte?” Hildebrand resident Roy Cook asked. “Getting water from here lessens the cost for Charlotte to expand.”
Speaking on his experience as a builder, he noted that when you establish a subdivision you have to build infrastructure costs, such as water or sewage, into the total expenses for development. “Are your subdivision builders being hit with a portion of that cost?
He also expressed concern over water or electric bills for foothills residents potentially soaring due to a shortage of water.
‘There’s Just Not Enough Water to Oblige You.’
Dale Pitts, a Burke County resident for 70 years, has watched the waterway near his home mostly dry up during that time.
He recalls renting a boat and fishing all day “and the water was up to the top of the bank. Go look at it now. It’s simply not there.”
There are natural constraints that we have to live with, and it appears Mecklenburg is stretching them beyond reason. Pitts’ old Burke pathos clearly resonated with the large crowd seated in the auditorium.
“I don’t have a big long speech for you, but I tell you, I’ve duck hunted up there…down there now, you’ll be lucky if you see a duck. It had been 25 years ago you could go down there and see 500 ducks before dinner…There’s only so much land. There’s only so much water. I’ve watched that river disappear. I’ll put it in a nutshell: There’s just not enough water to oblige you.”
A Morganton resident who’s been here since 1994 talked about the loss of habitat in the Everglades that he experienced as a child growing up in Florida.
“I watched the Everglades be drained by these transfers until it doesn’t look like the same place that it was. The other word I’ve heard here tonight is growth. Why do we have to provide this growth so that folks from states that are too dry can move here?”
He continued to pose questions about why alternative measures to put a check on growth have not been implemented, followed by another round of emphatic applause.
‘Leave Our Water Alone.’
“I actually moved here to get away from Charlotte,” mused Larry Davis, a Rhodhiss resident of 17 years and owner of the Castlebridge Marina, conjuring plenty of laughs and cheers from the audience.
He bought the family-owned marina four years ago and restored it after the place had been in disrepair for “twenty years or more.” He’s witnessed diminished water levels, as well, citing that Lake Rhodhiss is hovering near three-and-a-half to four feet.
He stated this water transfer to “sustain your growth” amounts to “taking away from us. You figure out another way and leave our water alone…It’s going to be devastating for us.”
‘They Don’t Create Any Jobs or Other Benefits for Our Counties.’
Doug Nichols, a Caldwell County resident born and raised in Burke, said he has also “witnessed the waters and resources in this area change tremendously” since he was a child.
“We’ve got a finite resource of water,” he continued. “God put the streams and Duke, of course, put the dams up to collect that water, but there’s no new streams being created. The rainfall is what God gives us. We can’t increase that. You are just looking to take that water from us. I’ve not heard one single thing about how during your development of new businesses and growth in Charlotte of conserving water by use of certain vegetation, or anything else like that, to use our resources better.”
Places like Charlotte are wealthy because they’ve been able to capitalize on the resources available to Mecklenburg County. Many in attendance feel the water in the Catawba River Basin is vital to helping the foothills region thrive while growing responsibly.
And this interbasin transfer threatens that ability.
“We’re at the top of the hill,” Nichols stated. “None of that water is coming back to us. We’re giving and we’re not receiving anything. We want to be able to take advantage of what we’ve got so we can grow and still have our recreation, and have businesses look at our area rather than your area because then they generate a tax base for us. When they come to Charlotte, they do not generate any tax base for us. They do not create any jobs or any other benefits for our counties, and you’re taking that away from us.”
How Citizens Can Express Their Concerns
We’re still early on in this process.
Residents of the Catawba River Basin are encouraged to direct their concerns to a few different entities before studies are conducted to evaluate water demand and environmental concerns.
This includes the Charlotte Water Interbasin Transfer Project at IBTPRoject@charlottenc.gov; Linwood Peele at the Division of Water Resources, linwood.peele@deq.nc.gov; Harold Brady at the Division of Water Resources, harold.m.brady@deq.nc.gov.
The EMC may grant Charlotte’s petition for water in whole or in part, or deny it, and may require mitigation measures to minimize detrimental effects.
In making this determination, the EMC is required to specifically consider:
The necessity, reasonableness, and proposed uses of water transferred.
Present and reasonably foreseeable detrimental effects on the source basin.
Cumulative effects on the source major river basin of any water transfer or consumptive water use currently authorized or projected in a Local Water Supply Plan.
Present and reasonably foreseeable beneficial and detrimental effects on the receiving basin.
The availability of reasonable alternatives to the proposed transfer.
Use of impoundment storage capacity, if applicable.
Purposes and water storage allocations in a US Army Corps of Engineers multipurpose reservoir.
Whether the service area of the applicant is within both the source and receiving basin.
Any other facts or circumstances reasonably necessary.
The key to making a case for or against the interbasin water transfer needs to fit into one of these considerations.
Residents elsewhere will be voicing their concerns or support for the Charlotte Water Interbasin Transfer, as well. Don’t let yours be drowned out.
Your participation is vital.
After all, this is the kind of community participation that keeps the waters of democracy flowing.
It was encouraging(?) to hear more people express concerns near the end of the meeting regarding climate change and other environmental catastrophes we need to brace for.