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Regional officials warn expanded Catawba River water transfers could strain upstream communities
Summary
Western Piedmont COG executive director Anthony Starr told Burke County commissioners Charlotte Water's potential increase to 63 million gallons per day would significantly enlarge interbasin transfers, posing environmental, legal and economic risks to communities in the Catawba River basin and prompting calls for time-limited approvals and mitigation funds.
Anthony Starr, executive director of the Western Piedmont Council of Governments, told the Burke County Board of Commissioners that proposed expansions of interbasin transfers (IBTs) from the Catawba River merit close scrutiny because they shift water and related impacts out of the source basin.
"Water that is transferred across that ridgeline and doesn't return is counted as the IBT," Starr said, outlining how Charlotte Water currently holds a 33 million-gallon-per-day certificate and is discussing requests that could take total transfers substantially higher. He warned that a potential 63 million-gallon-per-day transfer "is significant" compared with local conservation goals and regional storage…
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