HICKORY
Protect the Catawba Coalition has submitted official comments on the draft Water Allocation Study in continuous efforts to protect the existing interbasin transfer of water laws.
"Our coalition continues to not only protect our natural resources through our appeal of the Concord-Kannapolis interbasin transfer from the Catawba River, but we also continue to protect the amendments to the state's interbasin transfer law passed in 2007, that we fought so hard to achieve, by actively participating in statewide water allocation issues" said Hickory Mayor Rudy Wright.
The Coalition is a group of 22 jurisdictions in North and South Carolina in the Catawba River basin. The Coalition formed in 2006, in opposition to an interbasin petition to transfer as many as 22 to 36 million gallons of water per day from the Catawba River to support future growth in Concord and Kannapolis.
In the Coalition's submitted comments, it commends the North Carolina General Assembly and its staff for undertaking the study, which was authorized as a part of the 2007 legislation that enacted amendments to the state's interbasin transfer law. The group agrees with the report's characterization of some of the primary improvements made in the 2007 amendments, including broader notification requirements, more public hearings, and more rigorous analysis of environmental impacts.
Support is also given for the overall conclusion of the report that North Carolina should "protect the reasonable needs of water basins of origin through the regulation of interbasin transfers."
A full copy of the Coalition's comments is attached. The draft water allocation report may be found at: http://sogweb.sog.unc.edu/Water/index.php/Interim_WAS_report_to_ERC.
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