COLUMBIA, S.C. — Planning for the plan, that's the goal for a Tuesday night meeting hosted by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR). This plan hopes to highlight water usage in the Saluda River Basin. The basin, which spans from the Upstate down to Lake Murray and Columbia, is responsible for drinking water utilities to much of the Midlands, according to SCDNR.
Scott Harder, the Hydrology Program Manager at SCDNR says South Carolina has a statewide water plan that was created in 2004. He says this plan of originally mapping out South Carolina's water usage is outdated. Noticing this, SCDNR decided to created a revised long term plan that breaks the state into 8 different Basins, seen in SCDNR's map below.
Harder says, a group of stakeholders will represent each basin in decision making. These groups will include individuals from businesses, municipalities, local residents, and farms -- all who are impacted by the basin and complete an application.
"It's really about trying to find the balance between these social needs and economic needs and environmental needs because we want to protect the resource while we're trying to ensure we have water for all these other uses. So it's really about finding that balance and it's up to the council, those stakeholders that are on the council, to kind of work together to find out what that proper balance will be."
Benjamin Wildt, the Utilities Communication Coordinator at Columbia Water, says a rep from Columbia will be present for those meetings. He adds that to keep a reliable supply of water for stakeholders, municipalities like his will need to come to the table and get a plan together.
"We just want to make sure that resource is not only here today but for fifty years in the future and even after that. You know, it's a shared natural resource."
Harder says anyone interested in joining the council can apply via the DNR.SC.GOV website.