What Rock Hill needs to know about Charlotte’s plan to divert Catawba River water

Catawba Riverkeeper Brandon Jones doesn’t know yet if Charlotte Water ’s plan to pump more water out of the Catawba River basin will spark another “water war,” but he figures it could. It depends whether the region can come together to share its vital resource.

“It’s Charlotte now, but it’s going to be more and more of these areas,” said Jones, who leads the environmental nonprofit Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation based in McAdenville, N.C. “We need a basin-wide solution.”

Another transfer from the Catawba almost two decades ago set off legal challenges that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, as South Carolina groups argued that a North Carolina agency shouldn’t be able to divert flow before it reached the state line.

On Monday night, Charlotte Water will make its case for a larger transfer during a public meeting in Rock Hill.

Here are four key questions for the Rock Hill region ahead of that event:

Water War II? Charlotte wants permission to transfer more water out of Catawba River

What’s an interbasin transfer?

A state-regulated interbasin transfer happens when a water provider draws from one river basin and uses or discharges the water in another.

North Carolina has more than 130 public water systems that transfer water, but 80% of them move less than 1 million gallons per day, according to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality .

North Carolina has nine interbasin transfer certificates, which are needed for transfers of 2 million gallons per day or more. Two certificates draw water from the Catawba River basin. None bring water to it.

Charlotte Water received a 33 million gallons per day certificate in 2002 that remains the largest in the state. It pumps water from the Catawba to the Rocky River basin.

Concord and Kannapolis received a certificate in 2007 that led South Carolina to sue North Carolina in a case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The states settled in 2010 , with the North Carolina cities in the Rocky River basin getting up to 10 million gallons per day each from the Catawba and Yadkin river basins.

South Carolina has about two dozen of its own interbasin transfers , including in Lancaster and Chester.

Is the new transfer needed?

Cities and towns throughout the region were built on ridge lines. The 11-lake Catawba-Wateree river system touches 14 counties. Each of them has at least two river basins.

Charlotte Water serves most of the 1.1 million people in Mecklenburg County, including customers in the Catawba and Yadkin basins. Water comes from Mountain Island Lake and Lake Norman in the Catawba system.

“Charlotte Water is not asking for permission to withdraw more water from the Catawba River,” said Angela Charles, director of Charlotte Water. “This is about the transfer.”

For South Carolina communities, the result is still less water coming across the state line in the Catawba. Rock Hill draws water from Lake Wylie that’s distributed throughout York County.

Population increase and future water demand could exceed what Charlotte Water pumps through its current interbasin transfer by 2028 to 2030. Up to 30 million gallons per day more could be needed in the next 30 years, Charles told attendees at a public hearing in Morganton, N.C., this month.

Rock Hill will host the last of seven hearings on July 29. A public comment period runs through August. A draft application with more details is likely to be submitted by Charlotte Water for approval in North Carolina by early 2027.

Is anyone opposing the transfer?

Jones will present the Riverkeeper Foundation’s stance at the Rock Hill meeting. The region hasn’t historically planned or managed interbasin transfers as a collective group, he said Monday.

It’ll be a long process to determine if the transfer makes sense, he said.

Like Jones, Lake Wylie Marine Commission chairman Ray Webber wants to know what water conservation or supply improvements Charlotte Water intends to make outside the transfer request.

The marine commission is funded by all three counties that surround Lake Wylie, and has three members from each. Webber updated the commission Monday night on the transfer but it hasn’t taken a position yet.

“We know we need water,” he said. “I don’t think we have a full knowledge of what everyone upstream needs and wants.”

Duke Energy manages the entire Catawba chain for power production.

Catawba-Wateree licensing project manager Tami Styer read a statement from the company at public hearings that didn’t support or oppose the Charlotte Water request. It did recognize transfers are and likely will remain important in providing water for a growing area.

“Population centers and political boundaries don’t follow river basin boundaries,” Styer said at the Morganton hearing. “Supporting growth is likely to require interbasin transfers in many locations. This isn’t just a Charlotte issue.”

Susan Bromfield, president of the Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce , reached out to legislators in South Carolina after hearing the Charlotte Water plan. The years-long fight over the Concord and Kannapolis transfer influences the chamber’s position on the new request.

“The Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce’s — then and ever since — position has been to oppose the interbasin transfers and want the water protected for Lake Wylie and South Carolina,” she said.

How can I find out more info about IBT?

The Rock Hill public meeting begins at 6 p.m. Monday at Dutchman Creek Middle School , 4757 Mt. Gallant Road. A link to attend virtually is available at the Charlotte Water webpage at charlottenc.gov .

That site has presentations and videos from past hearings held throughout the Catawba basin, along with contacts to provide public comments via email.

Other groups like the Riverkeeper Foundation and Lake Wylie Marine Commission will offer updates after Monday’s meeting.

“There’s a lot of moving parts there,” Webber said. “I’m glad that there’s some dialogue. I don’t think this is going to be a black-and-white decision.”