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Region’s water use is political hot potato

Jaime Gatton | Mooresville Tribune | July 5, 2006

CH2M Hill is embroiled in another controversy that could impact Mooresville water/sewer customers. But this time, the battle is being fought by several municipalities that rely on the Catawba River for their water supply.

Officials of CH2M Hill – the engineering firm at the center of Mooresville’s wastewater treatment plant expansion controversy since October 2004 – presented town commissioners last week with results of the initial study of the town’s Rocky River Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion.

But before that presentation, firm officials spoke about the nearby Concord/Kannapolis Interbasin Transfer (IBT) proposal, which in recent months has become a political hot potato in municipalities along the Catawba River basin in North Carolina and South Carolina.

CH2M Hill officials told town commissioners that the IBT would not negatively impact Mooresville. But that’s a point of ongoing and heated debate throughout the Catawba River region.

Here’s why:

Like Mooresville, most municipalities that rely on the Catawba River for water remove the water from the river, or reservoirs such as Lake Norman, and treat it in wastewater treatment plants for residential use. Much of that treated water eventually returns to the Catawba River.

Conversely, an interbasin transfer is a process by which water is permanently transferred from one river basin to another, literally diverting natural water flow.

Though neither Concord nor Kannapolis are located in the Catawba River basin, the cities’ IBT proposes to permanently remove up to 36 million gallons of water per day (mgd) from the Catawba River, pumping it to the Rocky River basin which serves Concord and Kannapolis. The governments of Concord and Kannapolis say the Catawba River is a regional resource and the IBT is needed to support the two cities’ future growth needs.

Opponents of the IBT argue, however, that towns and cities along the Catawba River basin are growing too, and that Concord-Kannapolis’ request is too large, especially considering the other, more local IBTs from the Catawba River that are pending.

Foes of the plan also say the Concord/Kannapolis IBT request doesn’t adequately address lower-than-usual river levels due to drought.

But CH2M Hill officials, citing Concord/Kannapolis’ recent impact studies, told Mooresville commissioners last Tuesday that the proposed Concord/Kannapolis IBT would not impact Mooresville’s water quality or supply. The firm also recommended, alongside town staff, that Mooresville commissioners follow Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s lead in not speaking publicly about the proposed Concord/Kannapolis IBT.

But here’s what the engineering firm didn’t say:

CH2M Hill, which will design Mooresville’s $78 million wastewater treatment plant expansion, is also the consultant for the Concord/Kannapolis IBT project, which means the firm will benefit if the IBT request is approved.

Firm officials also did not tell commissioners that the majority of municipalities along the Catawba River basin, including 10 counties, seven cities and the State of South Carolina, have already expressed concerns about the IBT, either requesting that North Carolina delay its decision on the IBT or passing resolutions in opposition to the request.

Some are asking that the decision be delayed until 2008, when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) considers approval of a new Duke Energy license that will include minimum lake levels, flows and low-inflow protocol. Only then, IBT foes say, will the impact studies be based on credible figures.

Duke Energy has weighed in on the Concord/Kannapolis IBT matter, recommending that the N.C. Environmental Management Commission – which will decide if the Concord/Kannapolis’ IBT request is granted – allow the two cities to remove no more than 10 mgd from the Catawba River.

The Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation, the Mountain Island Lake Marine Commission and the Lake Wylie Marine Commission have publicly opposed the Concord/Kannapolis IBT request. Catawba Riverkeeper Donna Lisenby is scheduled to present information about the IBT to the Lake Norman Marine Commission on July 10.

It is unclear why CH2M Hill and Mooresville town staff recommended that Mooresville’s elected leaders not speak publicly about the IBT request, which if granted could dramatically impact town residents and millions of others in the Carolinas.

Asked why the firm and town staff recommended the town’s elected officials not make a public statement about the Concord/Kannapolis IBT, Town Manager Jamie Justice responded: “I can’t speak for CH2M Hill. Town staff has researched and found that there are no significant impacts to Mooresville.”

CH2M Hill also did not tell commissioners last week that along with the IBT request, Concord/Kannapolis had to propose a raw-water line route to transfer the 36 mgd from Lake Norman to Lake Howell in Cabarrus County – or that Concord/Kannapolis is proposing that the line run though Mooresville, Lisenby said.

That could mean “either Iredell County or Mooresville city council potentially condemning the land of Mooresville residents” to acquire the rights-of-way needed to install the 24- to 36-inch diameter water line, she added.

Lisenby has traveled up and down the Catawba River basin in recent months, speaking out against the Concord/Kannapolis IBT. She said contrary to the numbers CH2M Hill presented to Mooresville’s town board last week, the proposed IBT would in fact negatively impact Mooresville and all the other downstream municipalities that rely on the Catawba River for water supply.

The Concord-Kannapolis IBT, if passed, could trigger mandatory water restrictions in Mooresville and the other municipalities months sooner than without the transfer, Lisenby said.

And for the Town of Mooresville, that means decreased revenues, she said, because the town’s water/sewer customers don’t pay for something they can’t use.

If water revenues decrease as a result of extended voluntary and mandatory water conservation, water rates in Mooresville could increase more than currently projected to pay for the operation and maintenance of the water system and the debt incurred by several town projects, including the water treatment plant currently under construction.

Mooresville commissioners recently approved a 15 percent hike in the town’s water/sewer rates. They estimate 20 percent increases each of the following two years.

But perhaps the biggest possible impact the Concord/Kannapolis IBT could have on Mooresville is the raw-water line the two cities are proposing. Depending on where on Lake Norman the intake would go, Lisenby said, the line would either need to run through Mecklenburg County or Iredell County to connect to Cabarrus County’s Lake Howell.

Lisenby said Concord and Kannapolis turned their attention to Mooresville after Mecklenburg showed “no interest” in helping them acquire the rights-of-way necessary for construction and installation of a new water line.

She said Concord/Kannapolis, in its most recent environmental impact study, proposes to use existing Mooresville water lines and/or new lines from Lake Norman down N.C. 150 and along a portion of Main Street and continue to Lake Howell. It is unclear what components of Mooresville’s new raw-water pump station and water system CH2M Hill’s proposed plan would utilize.

Citing the Concord/Kannapolis IBT petition final environmental impact statement released in May, Lisenby said the route of the proposed pipe line is as follows: from Lake Norman where Perth Road crosses over the lake, south on Perth Road to N.C. 150, east on N.C. 150 to Williamson Road, then to Brawley School Road/West Wilson Avenue, heading east to South Main Street (N.C. 115), south to Timber Road, then begin paralleling the power line easement heading east to the Coddle Creek (Lake Howell) Reservoir. The proposed length is 16 miles.

The Concord/Kannapolis IBT request is a separate project from Mooresville’s wastewater treatment plant expansion.

CH2M Hill, as part of the plant expansion, will design a $15 million system to pump treated water back to the Catawba River/Lake Norman, which could keep Mooresville from having to apply for an IBT of its own in the immediate future.

That could spare Mooresville a lot of heartburn, as the IBT process – which is heavily regulated by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources – is becoming more difficult as more cities draw from the Catawba River.

The N.C. Senate is currently considering a bill, filed by Daniel G. Clodfelter (D-Mecklenburg), that if passed would amend the statute governing the regulation of interbasin transfers, limiting IBT requests such as Concord/Kannapolis’.

The N.C. Environmental Management Commission has opened a public comment period on the Concord/Kannapolis IBT, until July 25. To weigh in, write Phil Fragapane, Division of Water Resources, DENR, 1611 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1611 or send an e-mail to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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