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ALERT: Drought Advisory #9Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 3:49 PM
Subject: ALERT: Drought Advisory #9
The 2007 drought is now one of the worst droughts to hit the Catawba River basin since records have been kept. It is an emerging ecological and economic disaster for the river and for the 14 counties that are located in the Catawba River basin.
Ecological Disaster
Fragile aquatic habitat has been decimated by record low water levels. The death of water dependent aquatic life (fish, clams, mussels, crayfish) occurred in the streams and creeks that were drained completely dry as a result of the drought. Other animals are dependent on these streams and creeks for food, like great blue herons, raccoons, bald eagles and kingfishers. As the creeks and streams dry up, these animals will also see their food sources diminish.
Rapidly receding lake levels stranded thousands of mussels and clams on lake shorelines where they baked to death in the sun. The NC Wildlife Resources Commission reports that it drastically reduced the fish stocking rate for trout into the upper Catawba River basin because there isn’t enough water for the fingerlings to have a high survival rate. For the lakes that are now more than 6 feet below full pond, much of the normal shoreline habitat that smaller fish use to feed and take cover from predators is no longer covered with water. They have been forced to deeper water where bigger fish live. As the lake levels continue to decline more and more of this aquatic habitat is lost and fish are forced to live in less water.
Economic Disaster
Public Utilities: Throughout the basin, public utilities that provide drinking water to the public have had to implement mandatory water conservation measures. This results in less revenue to pay for the operations and maintenance of vital public infrastructure. Abnormally dry soils are contracting. In some areas, cracks in the dry soil reach seven and eight inches deep. Unusually dry soils have resulted in broken water lines, creating increased maintenance requirements at a time when revenues are reduced due to mandatory water conservation. While this was happening, utilities had to transition some of their employees to patrol, document and issue citations to those members of the public who failed to comply with mandatory water restrictions. These scofflaws cost more money in operations than they yield in revenue collected from fines. When our 20 or more public drinking water providers across the basin tabulate the true cost of this drought on their operations, it is likely to be millions of dollars.
Recreation and Tourism: Low lake levels have caused the loss of major fishing tournaments and sailing championships. Last week, officials canceled the J80 North American National Championship series scheduled for Lake Norman on Nov 8-11. They cited low levels as the cause and rescheduled the event for Annapolis, Maryland. Water based recreation and tourism events fill restaurants and hotels in the counties surrounding the Catawba River lakes. Boat ramp closures dramatically affect these events, often causing cancellation. This leads to thousands of dollars in lost recreation and tourism dollars for the Catawba River basin.
Water Dependent Businesses: Marinas on Catawba River lakes (especially Lake James and Lake Wylie) are suffering daily economic losses from low lake levels. Lake Wylie is so low that it is causing structural damage to major infrastructure at the Lake Wylie Marina (see attached pictures). Fishing guide services, boat dock builders and other water dependent business are also seeing impacts from the drought. These losses are hard to see. A drought is not like other natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes. The public can see the immediate effect of homes and businesses blown apart by gale force winds but a drought is a gradually escalating natural disaster whose impacts are not known immediately.
The Catawba Riverkeeper Foundations extends our heart felt thanks to the news media professionals, citizens and water users in the Catawba River basin who are conserving water and educating others about the dire need to conserve more water. We ask that you keep finding ways to help save the Catawba River from this growing ecological and economic disaster.
In the last 71 days the larger Catawba River lakes have dropped 29.2 feet, cumulatively. Many lakes are lower than they were in the drought of 2002, including Lake James, Lake Rhodhiss, Lake Lookout and Lake Wylie. Here is a look at current lake levels:
Lake James 9.3 feet below full pond
Lake Rhodhiss 8.4 feet below full pond
Lake Hickory 5.5 feet below full pond
Lake Lookout 9.3 feet below full pond
Lake Norman 6.7 feet below full pond
Mtn Island 4.8 feet below full pond
Lake Wylie 7.2 feet below full pond
Lake Wateree 5.4 feet below full pond
The rain that is falling across the region today is being soaked up by bone dry, parched soils. Very little of the meager rainfall is running off and flowing into the Catawba River and its lakes. The soil is so dry it will take many inches of steady rainfall over several weeks to see any appreciable rise in lake levels.
There is an emerging problem on Lake James that will likely spread to Lake Rhodhiss and Lake Wylie soon. It is 4-wheel and off road vehicles driving on the lake beds and destroying the fragile shoreline habitat (see attached pictures).
Duke Energy reported today that it resumed an increased level of hydro-generation from the Lake James dam. This power production will lower Lake James at a rate of 2 feet per week. Lake James, Lake Rhodhiss and Lake Lookout are now approaching 10 feet below full pond. The dry lake bed area of Lake James is so large now you can see it from satellites in space. Go to Google Earth and zoom in on the Linville River arm of Lake James to see this ecological disaster area. As the lake beds emerge, 4 wheel drive thrill seekers have found ways to gain access to the lake beds. Driving across dry lake bottoms is very destructive and damaging to fragile aquatic habitat.
The Santee Cooper utility is having the same the problem with off road vehicles on Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie in SC. On October 9, 2007 the corporate communication office of Santee Cooper issued the press release pasted below. As the Catawba River lakes reach all time record lows, we are all going to be faced with new circumstances and new conditions never encountered before.
What can be done about some of the economic and ecological impacts:
Public Utilities: The Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation urges our local drinking water providers to revise water pricing rates so that more money is charged for higher levels of water use. One of the things that compounded this drought is that so many more people in the Catawba River basin are now using drinking water to irrigate grass. Water that is used outdoors and does not enter a sewer system does not return to the Catawba River. A tiered rate structure will charge the water wasters without penalizing those who use normal levels of drinking water. This tiered rate structure may also help public water providers recoup some of the financial losses suffered due to the drought this year. As the Catawba River basin continues to grow, more and more water will be withdrawn from the lakes. We must get smarter and more efficient at using water or drought impacts will be more severe next time.
Ecological: The Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation urges fisherman to give stressed aquatic resources a break during this difficult time. We encourage you to hang up your fishing pole and pick up your hammer. It may take years for the aquatic ecosystem of the Catawba River system to recover from the harm of this drought. One way you can help speed the recovery is to use the low lake levels as a rare opportunity to install fish habitat structures in the Catawba River lakes. Please forward this email to your friends who have enjoyed many pleasurable hours with friends and family fishing the Catawba River and its lakes. The river needs you to repay it for those good times especially now that it having such a hard time due to record low water levels. Please consider gathering a group of your fishing buddies together to carefully and properly install fish habitat structures of wood in what would normally be deep water. These constructed habitat structures serve fish best when they are installed in undeveloped areas of the river and its lakes. It better to put them a safe distance away from recreation areas where children might jump in the water and be injured or impaled by unseen underwater hazards. Please contact the NC Division of Wildlife Resources and the SC Department of Natural Resources for further guidance.
Thank you again for continuing to help protect and restore the Catawba River. We need to work together to preserve our neighborhood river. It is a vital link to the region’s economic and ecological future. Please feel free to forward this email. Perhaps it will help conservation efforts if people can see and read about the impact of the drought on our economy and our ecology.
Oct. 9, 2007
Media Contact: Laura Varn
Corporate Communications
843-761-4133
lgvarn@santeecooper.com
Reminder: Shoreline Off Limits to Motorized Land Vehicles
on Santee Cooper Lakes
MONCKS CORNER, S.C.---Santee Cooper is reminding the public that the state-owned utility
prohibits the use of terrain vehicles, motorcycles or other motorized land vehicles below the
high-water mark on lakes Marion and Moultrie.
“The abnormally low lake levels have created an attractive shoreline for ‘four-wheeling,’
whether it be ATVs, dirt bikes, four-wheel drive vehicles or even automobiles,” said Dave
Evans, Santee Cooper’s manager of property management. “Motorized vehicles disturb soil
affecting native flora and fauna, as well as adversely impacting fish-spawning habitat.”
“We are not prohibiting people from walking along the shoreline,” Evans said.
The term “below the high-water mark” uses an elevation of 76.8 feet above sea level for Lake
Marion and 75.5 feet above sea level for Lake Moultrie. Those elevations are the “full pool”
level of each lake.
“Significantly reduced inflows into Lake Marion from the Congaree and Wateree rivers, and
from the 15,000-square mile watershed that extends into North Carolina, have resulted in levels
on both lakes not seen since the early 1950s,” said Evans. “The lakes are nearly 5 feet below the
ideal level for this time of year.”
Donna Marie Lisenby
Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation, Inc.
2007-10-19 23:22:40
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