Two public meetings will be held in the Upstate next week to provide citizens with an overview of a new water planning framework that will help guide surface water management in the Upper Savannah River Basin over the next 50 years.

The meetings will also serve as venues for engaging volunteers interested in serving on a council that will develop and implement the plan for the Upper Savannah River basin. Meetings are scheduled in Anderson at Tri-County Technical College (Anderson Campus) on Monday, April 10 and in McCormick at Hickory Knob State Park on Tuesday, April 11. Both meetings will be held from 6-8 p.m.

In March 2018, SCDNR established the State Water Planning Process Advisory Committee to help draft a “framework” document that will guide the development of individual river basin plans for each of the state’s eight major river basins. The Planning Process Advisory Committee includes representatives from a wide range of organizations, including the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, Clemson University’s S.C. Water Resources Center, municipal and rural water systems, conservation groups, power companies and agricultural interests. In 2019, the group completed a report, the “South Carolina State Water Planning Framework,” which describes the river basin planning process and the intended contents of a river basin plan.

“The Planning Framework represents a foundation for the development of regional and state water plans, which are essential for our continued economic growth and protection of the resources and environment that we all share,” said Ken Rentiers, deputy director for SCDNR’s Land, Water & Conservation Division.

Each river basin plan will be created and overseen by a river basin council, a working group of stakeholders with water interests in the basin. River basin councils in the Edisto, Broad, Saluda, and Pee Dee River basins have already been established and planning activities in those basins are ongoing. The Upper Savannah River basin has been selected as the next basin to implement the new planning framework, while planning activities in the Lower Savannah-Salkehatchie basin are scheduled to begin later this year.

At its most fundamental level, a river basin plan will address four basic questions:

1) What is the basin’s current available water supply and demand?

2) What are the current permitted and registered water uses within the basin?

3) What will be the water demand in the basin throughout the Planning Horizon (50-year planning period) and will the available water supply be adequate to meet that demand?

4) What water management strategies will be employed in the basin to ensure the available supply meets or exceeds future projected demand?

As stated in the Planning Framework, “Answering the fourth question is the heart of the water-planning process and greatly benefits from cooperation and consensus among all stakeholders throughout the basin. A successful and equitable river basin plan addresses the effects all water users have on one another and on the resource.”

Public involvement is critical to the goal of ensuring that future generations of South Carolinians have secure, well-managed supplies of our most critical natural resource—water. You can download a copy of the “South Carolina State Water Planning Framework” and learn more about the Planning Process Advisory Committee and the research underpinning this initiative at: https://hydrology.dnr.sc.gov/state-and-river-basin-planning.html.

Meeting locations and times:

Anderson—April 10, 2023, 6-8 p.m.

Tri-County Technical College, Anderson Campus

511 Michelin Blvd, Rm 123

Anderson, SC 29625

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McCormick—April 11, 2023, 6-8 p.m.

Hickory Knob State Park and Resort

Convention Center

1591 Resort Dr.

McCormick, SC 29835