City Manager Jerry Moss reported at yesterday’s meeting that a bill pending in the North Carolina Senate may endanger the Kerr Lake Regional Water Authority’s water sales.
Interbasin transfers are the moving of a quantity of water from one river basin to another.
Moss learned of the legislation which has already passed the House from a North Carolina League of Municipalities bulletin on Friday.
SB 1421, according to Moss, could stop transfers that are already being done by the Kerr Lake Regional Water Authority. It would also affect the sale of water to Oxford which Oxford plans, in turn, to sell to Creedmore.
Moss mentioned that a great deal of money has been spent around the Water Authority’s ability to make interbasin transfers, including $1 million for plans for a new water treatment plant.
Moss told members that the bill could waste all of that money.
The City Manager has asked Sen. Doug Berger to grandfather Henderson in the legislation.
The bill is scheduled for a vote in the Senate today.
Council member Lynn Harper added that sales to Warrenton and Franklinton would also be affected.
Moss reported that the League’s position is officially neutral, as some cities favor the legislation while others do not. He reminded the Council that the idea behind the Kerr Lake Regional Water Authority was “regionalism”. He characterized the pending bill as “exactly the opposite”.
Member Elissa Yount moved that relevant senators and representatives be contacted on Tuesday with emails endorsed by the City Council. She stated that the Water Authority has already passed its environmental studies and that the Assembly was “changing the rules”. Her motion was passed unanimously.
“We will be in a bad situation,” Yount said.
City Attorney John Zollicoffer suggested that Greensboro would be “a major player in this” with political clout.
He also informed the Council that ten million gallons per day is grandfathered.
Yount countered that the bill would eliminate the grandfathering.
“Water is a lucrative asset,” Yount said. She said that many cities are trying to control water.
“This would not be a problem if Raleigh needed water,” Henderson Mayor Clem Seifert said.