Western Piedmont COG warns Charlotte’s proposed interbasin transfer could strain Catawba River supplies

Anthony Starr, director of the Western Piedmont Council of Governments, gave a detailed presentation to the Alexander County Board of Commissioners on the potential regional impacts of interbasin transfers (IBTs) from the Catawba River Basin. Starr explained that an IBT moves water from one river basin to another so it does not return to the source basin and that the Catawba River Basin is vulnerable to such transfers because it stores only a small percentage of annual rainfall and is densely populated.

Starr said Charlotte Water currently holds a 33,000,000-gallons-per-day IBT certificate and is seeking to increase that to about 63,000,000 gpd. He noted that Charlotte Water’s system reportedly loses about 19% of treated water to leaks and other losses—approximately 23,000,000 gpd—and that a large IBT capacity would be many times the city’s stated conservation goals during extreme droughts. "Either Charlotte Water's conservation goals are not adequate or this IBT is significant," Starr said.

Starr outlined alternatives to a large IBT, such as sourcing from the Yadkin River Basin or discharging and pumping return flows across the ridgeline to avoid an IBT designation. He also described the Catawba River Coalition of local governments and noted recent legislative action (House Bill 850) that enacted a moratorium on large new IBTs and directed the North Carolina Collaboratory at UNC Chapel Hill to study statutory processes.

Commissioners asked questions about how water losses occur and the possible local consequences if the state allows larger IBTs, including limits on regional water-plant expansions and higher pollutant concentrations in low flows. Starr recommended coalition engagement with state legislators and participation in the UNC Collaboratory study and said public hearings by the Environmental Management Commission are likely if Charlotte files an environmental impact statement.