You may know of wrac, the ad-hoc committee created last summer by Rep. Don Bowen to draft legislation creating a study to find out how South Carolina can restructure our various agencies into a single entity to manage our water on a statewide basis. Only the good Lord can decide how much water is to flow in our beautiful rivers, creeks, and lakes, so we must be stewards of this water to ensure all interests are satisfied. The committee consisted of Mike Massey (former Lake Hartwell Association President), Rep. Don Bowen, Councilman Bob Waldrep, Janice McCord (Rep. Gresham Barrett), Susan Aiken (Sen. Jim DeMint), Jerry Craft (business associate with Rep. Bowen), Gene Eidson (Clemson University), Tom Allen and myself. The chairman of Agriculture, Sen. Danny Verdin and I felt it would be best to deal with S. 428 by Sen. Wes Hayes (R-York) which deals with withdrawal permitting before we took up our bill. Unfortunately, S. 428 died on the floor, yet I’m confident it will be on the front burner next session.
Here’s our bill:
S 0925 General Bill, By Bryant and Hayes
Similar (H 4393)
A BILL TO AMEND CHAPTER 3 OF TITLE 49, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO WATER RESOURCES PLANNING AND COORDINATION BY ADDING ARTICLE 3 SO AS TO ENACT THE “SOUTH CAROLINA COMPREHENSIVE STATEWIDE WATER MANAGEMENT ACT OF 2008”, INCLUDING PROVISIONS TO REQUIRE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A STATEWIDE COMPREHENSIVE WATER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM; TO PROVIDE FOR PRINCIPLES ON WHICH SUCH PROGRAM MUST BE BASED; TO REQUIRE ALL WATER WITHDRAWAL PERMIT DECISIONS TO BE MADE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROGRAM;
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