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Navigating the Legislative Process: How You Can Help Shape Laws to Protect the Catawba-Wateree River

Ellie Riggs • January 17, 2025

On January 8th, the Policy Team traveled to Raleigh to kick off the 2025-2026 Legislative Session and celebrate the swearing-in of North Carolina’s 170 new lawmakers. Just a week later, South Carolina’s 126th General Assembly convened in Columbia. Congratulations to all the new legislators! We are excited to work with you to protect the waters of the Catawba-Wateree River. 

 

Before we dive into the details of our advocacy work this year, let’s take a step back to your middle school civics class. What exactly is a General Assembly? What is a legislative session? And how does an idea become a law? 

 

In both North and South Carolina, the General Assembly is the government body responsible for making state laws. It’s divided into two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each member of the General Assembly is elected for a two-year term to represent the constituents from their district—including you! 

 

In January of each odd-numbered year, the new NC and SC General Assemblies convene for the first time in Raleigh and Columbia to begin their legislative sessions. During this time, legislators meet with constituents, lobbyists, government staff, and each other to discuss issues and solutions, introduce bills (drafted proposals for new laws), and vote on legislation. The goal of a legislative session is to create and pass laws that address state needs and shape the future of our communities. In NC, the General Assembly meets on a biennial schedule, with a “Long Session” from January to August of odd-numbered years and a “Short Session” in May of even-numbered years to adjust the budget. SC’s General Assembly convenes annually from January to May. 

 

So, how does a bill become a law? The process begins when a concerned citizen or advocacy group, like Catawba Riverkeeper, presents an idea to a legislator. If the idea gains support, it’s drafted into a bill and introduced into one chamber, where it’s debated and refined by a committee. If the bill passes the first chamber (in NC, this must happen before May 9th of the Long Session), the process repeats in the second. Once both chambers approve the bill, the governor can sign it into law. 

 

However, it’s rarely as simple as the Schoolhouse Rock “I’m Just a Bill” song suggests. Proposing a bill requires a tremendous amount of work, including extensive background research, numerous meetings with legislators, and meticulous conversations and email exchanges to fine-tune the text. Even after this, the bill can face delays, revisions in committee, or a veto from the governor. No wonder “Bill” from “I’m Just a Bill” looks so worn out! 

 

There is still one crucial step in the process that Schoolhouse Rock left out, and it involves YOU! As a constituent, your voice can directly influence laws that impact your life. Legislators derive their power from the people they represent, and their decisions are shaped by your concerns. Urging your Senator and Representative to support bills that matter to you is a powerful way to help pass legislation. It’s easy to do! Visit ncleg.gov or scstatehouse.gov to find your lawmakers’ contact information. You can email them to express your support for bills you care about. These websites also let you track the progress of bills as they move through the legislative process. 

 

Despite the challenges and complexity of the legislative process, advocating for our river is a central part of Catawba Riverkeeper. Every piece of our 2025-2026 Legislative Agenda and every bill we support has the potential to make meaningful impact on the health of our streams, rivers, lakes, and communities. Advocacy is also a team effort. While the Policy Team is brainstorming new ways to address stormwater runoff, meeting with legislators to discuss the importance of outdoor recreation, and drafting legislation to support disaster recovery, the work of advocating for our waterways requires all our voices coming together to create positive change. We hope that you will join us in being a voice for our waters this legislative session! Visit our Advocacy Page to learn more. 

Highlights from 2024

December 20, 2024
Another busy year is in the books!

Progress continues this fall at the Outdoor Classroom

November 18, 2024
Though the direct impacts from Hurricane Helene were not as severe throughout the Lower Catawba and Wateree watersheds within our basin, there was still significant flooding and ensuing damage. When our Southern Basin Watershed Manager, Rachael Rosenstein, visited our Outdoor Classroom property in Fort Lawn, SC a few days after the Hurricane passed through, it was evident that the property had essentially become a part of the Catawba River as the water flowed through the fields. The local mallard population was thankful to have somewhere to shelter, but the storm left us with some downed trees and carried benches, picnic tables, and other loose items to different spots on the property. Since then, we have been able to collect all those items and return them to where they belong. Prior to Hurricane Helene, a different storm caused a tree to fall on top of the building at the property. Thanks to the help of Catawba Nation and Metcon, a general contracting company, we were able to get the house debris cleared out before the end of September. After the Hurricane, these partners were also were able to repair the damage the tree caused. Thanks to their help, the building is now sealed up, and we can use it as-needed. We have more fun projects in the works, as well! We are excited to share that we were able to put up one bat box in November (pictured above), and we will be installing another one soon. We are still working hard on the prairie restoration which we received a Duke HEP grant for in 2023 and hope to be making more progress on that this fall. Thanks to funding from the Catawba Nation Foundation and the Arras Foundation, we will be installing a park-style restroom on the property within the next year. This will allow for increased programming at the property. We also received a grant from Athletic Brewing’s Two for the Trails program that will help partially fund a boardwalk trail! We are grateful to be making headway on this project, but we are still working to raise the remain funds needed to move forward with building the boardwalk. All-in-all, we have a lot to be thankful for and a lot to look forward to at the Outdoor Classroom!

Diving Deeper into IBTs

September 20, 2024
What is an IBT? If you follow us online, you’ve probably seen the letters “IBT” tossed around over the last few months. But what is an IBT and why do we keep mentioning it? IBT stands for “Interbasin Transfer,” or a process in which surface water is taken from a “donor” or “source” river basin and transferred to a “receiving” basin. Typically, IBTs are created because of a public water system’s need to increase the amount of water available to meet demand, or because a water system lies within two different river basins and draws water from one and discharges into the other. In 1993, North Carolina passed an “Act to Regulate Interbasin Transfers” that required a certificate from the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission (EMC) to permit any surface water transfers between river basins that were greater than 2 million gallons per day (MGD). How many IBTs exist in North Carolina? Currently, there are nine IBT certificates effectively regulating 11 water systems throughout the state. Additionally, 10 water systems are permitted to transfer more than two MGD through grandfathered allowances. Smaller surface water transfers between basins also exist, with six systems transferring between 1 and 2 MGD, and 106 systems transferring less than 1 MGD. What's happening in Charlotte? Charlotte Water draws water for the region from intakes on Lake Norman and Mountain Island Lake, both of which are in the Catawba-Wateree River Basin. However, with the city of Charlotte being situated partially in the Catawba-Wateree River Basin and partially in the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin, Charlotte Water currently uses an interbasin transfer certificate to discharge a portion of the region’s wastewater into the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin. As Charlotte regions located in the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin continue to grow (areas such as Mint Hill and Huntersville), Charlotte Water is predicting that the current IBT certificate that allows the transfer of 33 MGD will not be sufficient in the coming years. Because of this, they are requesting an increase to the certificate as they look towards the future. Click here to learn more about Charlotte Water’s IBT request. Looking back and looking ahead. In North Carolina, IBT requests must include water demand projections in 10-year increments for at least 30-years. Requests in this state must also meet the most extensive requirements in the Southeast, and the process can take anywhere from 3-5 years. Though this might seem like long-term planning, we don’t think this planning is long-term enough. Catawba Riverkeeper has been raising concerns about overallocation ever since Charlotte requested to expand its legacy IBT of 16.9 MGD to the current 33 MGD 23 years ago. We spoke out again in 2006 during the 2006 IBT request of Concord & Kannapolis, again in 2010 during the SC vs. NC Supreme Court case, and once again in 2013 on Charlotte’s permit to include the Goose Creek Watershed. The population is continuing to grow, correlating with the increased demand for water, and continuing to increase IBT certificates for decades to come has the possibility to adversely affect the receiving basin, donor basin, and downstream communities. We believe that it is critical to focus on long-term conservation and mitigation solutions instead of continuing to request these increases as short-term fixes. What’s Catawba Riverkeeper doing? Since Charlotte announced their increase request, we have been following developments and attending the public scoping meetings. Catawba Riverkeeper Brandon Jones shared preliminary comments at the final meeting in Rock Hill, SC, and on August 30, our official comments and recommendations for this interbasin transfer request were submitted to Charlotte’s IBT Project. In these comments, Jones stated that “We are advocating that Charlotte take this opportunity to lead the region into the next phase of water conservation and mitigation. We need a new system that better captures the value of our surface waters for current and future generations. There are many ways to decrease the demand for transfers per capita and increase the available supply, all of which should be fully vetted.” Click here to read the rest of our comments and recommendations. What’s next? Now that the public scoping meetings have concluded and comments from stakeholders have been submitted, NC DEQ will create an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). This statement will examine potential impacts to both the source and receiving basins, including drought and conservation impacts. The EIS will also evaluate the possible alternatives to the proposed transfer as well as methods to mitigate negative impacts of it. Once drafted, the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission (EMC) will hold a public hearing and open another comment period to evaluate the draft. If approved, Charlotte Water will then be able to submit the IBT modification request to NC DEQ. The EMC will issue a draft decision of whether to grant the request, and another public hearing and comment period will commence. A final decision will then be made by the Environmental Management Commission. We will be following every step of this process, so stay tuned for more updates in the months and years to come. Sources Charlotte Water Interbasin Transfer . Charlotte Water. (n.d.). https://www.charlottenc.gov/water/DevelopmentBusiness/Charlotte-Water-IBT NC DEQ. (2022, March 10). Regulatory Impact Analysis: Interbasin Surface Water Transfers. https://www.deq.nc.gov/emc-attach-10mar22-6/open River Network. (2019). Protecting and Restoring Flows in Our Southeastern Rivers: A Synthesis of State Policies for Water Security and Sustainability. http://www.rivernetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/River-Network-Protecting-Restoring-Flows-in-SE-Rivers-2019.pdf
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