By Emily Manzik
Triangle communities such as Cary, Apex, Morrisville and Wake County have recently requested the state's approval to transfer an additional 9 million gallons of water per day out of the Haw River and into the Neuse and Cape Fear River basins.
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| The Haw River State Park is located near the headwaters of the Haw River where visitors can oversee the waters. |
To put this number into prospective, think about all the water a person uses, such as morning showers, drinking water, washing clothes and even running the dish washer. It is estimated that a person uses 90 gallons of water a day, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Therefore, this additional 9 million gallon transfer would be enough water to supply roughly 100,000 people a day.
With Wake County's growing population, it comes as no surprise that the community is proposing more water to supply to its people.
Officials in Wake County and surrounding areas say the proposed increase would support growth and development expected
to occur in the source and receiving basins.
Citizens Speak Against Proposal
This request from Cary, Apex, Morrisville and Wake County to modify their interbasin transfer certificate has caused an uproar across the state.
Two public hearings were held in January, where citizens were allowed to freely comment with any concerns or questions about the proposed transfer. Over 70 comments were recorded.
Once the comments were received by the state, the Hearing Officer and the Division Director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources produced a thorough report of the implications of the transfer.
The report focused on the necessity, reasonableness and beneficial effects of the transfer along with other important facts and figures.
However, not everyone is as optimistic as the communities seem to be about the transfer.
Tom Shepherd, a naturalist at the Piedmont Environmental Center said, “since our rivers have been so impacted over time, what we have left, are pretty much organisms that can handle a lot of environmental change, except for some rare species of fish.”
Perhaps Cary and its surrounding towns are not thinking about what lies below the water.
Two public hearings were held in January, where citizens were allowed to freely comment with any concerns or questions about the proposed transfer. Over 70 comments were recorded.
Once the comments were received by the state, the Hearing Officer and the Division Director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources produced a thorough report of the implications of the transfer.
The report focused on the necessity, reasonableness and beneficial effects of the transfer along with other important facts and figures.However, not everyone is as optimistic as the communities seem to be about the transfer.
Tom Shepherd, a naturalist at the Piedmont Environmental Center said, “since our rivers have been so impacted over time, what we have left, are pretty much organisms that can handle a lot of environmental change, except for some rare species of fish.”
Perhaps Cary and its surrounding towns are not thinking about what lies below the water.
Home to the Cape Fear Shiner
Swimming through the rivers of North Carolina lives a species of fish that has been found nowhere in the world except the Cape Fear River basin. This fish is extremely rare and is also federally listed as endangered.
According to the North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources, dam construction in the Cape Fear River basin has most significantly affected shiner populations by flooding the fish’s habitat.
However, changes in flow regulation are also detrimental to the Cape Fear shiner. Having a significant change in current river flows could further threaten the few remaining populations of this species.
The Hearing Officer's report on the interbasin tranfer states, "The proposed IBT certificate modification will not
significantly change Jordan Lake elevations, low-flow augmentation or water
supply pool storage volumes, downstream flows, downstream users’ water supply
availability or downstream water quality in the source or receiving basins."
Despite the report showing that there are no significant changes, some citizens are still hesitant of the possible implications.
“I would not say that there would be no effect; that seems a
little short sided to say that," said Sandra Cooke, assistant professor of environmental science at High Point University.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services says, "Potential threats to the species and its habitat could come from such activities as changes in stream flow, runoff from agriculture and communities, road construction, impoundments, wastewater discharge and other development projects in the watershed."
With sensitive species, such as the Cape Fear shiner, the interbasin transfer could have negative implications on the fishes. Any changes in the flow of the rivers could further put the Cape Fear shiners at risk.
Wildlife at Risk
Along with the Cape Fear shiner, there are a number of other species who call the Cape Fear River basin their home.
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The shortnose
sturgeon, the red-cockaded woodpecker and the Saint Francis’ satyr are just to name a few of the endangered species that can be found within the basin.
The
American alligator and the loggerhead sea turtle are listed nationally as
threatened species, meaning they are at risk of becoming endangered.
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| Haw River is designated by the state as "nutrient sensitive waters." Wastewater treatment plants have a strict limit on the amount of chemicals it can discharge into the water. |
“Sometimes the loss of some creatures is balanced by the
gain of other organisms,” said Shepherd. "But some organisms can thrive in low water
environments, others cannot.”
Even the Environmental Management Commission sees that there could be some species within Cape Fear River basin who could be impacted by the proposed transfer.
"Secondary effects from [population] growth such as increased runoff,
erosion, and loss of open space, are expected to have negative impacts on water
quality and fish and wildlife habitat," states the Hearing Officer's report. "These impacts will be mitigated to a
reasonable degree through existing regulations and programs."
How much mitigating will occur through these regulations and programs can not be determined at this time. The future of these species will, in part, depend on the proposed interbasin transfer.
What Comes Next?
Despite the concerns of local citizens and counties downstream, the plan is moving forward.
The Hearing Officer and the commission has determined, "the benefits of the proposed certificate modification outweigh the detriments
of the certificate modification, and any detriments of the proposed
certificate modification will be mitigated to a reasonable degree under the
conditions of this Certificate."
The commission had granted the request to transfer water from the Haw River basin to the Neuse and Cape Fear River basins.
“Once
the permit is done there is almost nothing little towns and cities that would
be impacted can do,” said Shepherd.
Perhaps the commission is right and there won't be any significant implications as a result of the interbasin transfer. However, take a look under the surface; is it worth the risk?
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