Environmentalists, area governments clash over best way to protect the Okatie River

Pollution and the Okatie River respect no political boundaries, environmentalists say.

That's why the Coastal Conservation League is asking local governments to halt nearby development until the state releases a report later this year on how to reduce contaminants in the river.

The watershed touches Bluffton, Hardeeville and Beaufort and Jasper counties -- each with its own rules governing development.

"We often approve (development) without foresight of what the impacts might be," said Reed Armstrong of the Coastal Conservation League.

Some government officials say local ordinances provide enough protection.

Others say more scientific information is necessary to understand how severe the problems are and what controls can help improve water quality.

Nancy Schilling of Friends of the Rivers thinks time is of the essence if the river is to improve.

"Do you need to see fish belly up or shrimp dead before you do something?" she asked. "Water quality is the second item on the agenda. Development seems to be the first."

AN ARRAY OF NEW DEVELOPMENT

In Bluffton, 11 projects that drain into the Okatie are under way, said Gregg Eckstein, assistant director of the town's department of environmental protection.

Those projects include two phases and the clubhouse for the Villages at Verdier; five phases of Baynard Park; two phases of the Parkside residential community; and an assisted living health center.

On Tuesday, Bluffton Town Council also approved Buckwalter Commons -- a 178,632-square-foot shopping center in western Bluffton that features a Harris Teeter grocery store.

In Hardeeville, Okatie Crossings, located on about 300 acres at the intersection of U.S. 278 and S.C. 170, is a 1.5-million square foot complex that includes an open-air mall and multi-family housing.

Planning director Brana Snowden said the project must still go through development review. The developer has applied for a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fill about four acres of wetlands, some of which were preserved by a previous developer in exchange for other wetlands lost to development. The public is able to comment on the permit proposal until May 4.

In unincorporated Beaufort County, two projects are proposed within the Okatie watershed:

• County Council approved a 1,252-home development called Okatie Village in October. Zoning administrator Hillary Austin said she has not received further development plans in connection with the project.

• The fate of property on Pinckney Point, located on a peninsula between the Okatie and Colleton rivers, is tied up in court as developers, county officials and residents contest state approval for three community docks and 30 boat lifts.

The Florida-based developer wants to build 76 homes with a total of seven community docks and 70 boat lifts.

A hearing is pending in the S.C. Administrative Law Court.

MEASURING THE LOAD

For nearly 15 years, much of the Okatie River, with the exception of its confluence with the Colleton River, has been closed to shellfishingg because of high fecal coliform levels. Fecal coliform is bacteria that results from human or animal fecal matter.

The Okatie River is one of the state's 970 impaired waterways. That designation means theS.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control is required to improve the river under the terms of the federal Clean Water Act. An impaired waterway is one where pollution levels exceed state and federal standards.

In August, the state agency announced an effort to improve the river's water quality through a program specific to shellfish harvesting waters called "TMDL," or total maximum daily load.

The program identifies the amount of fecal coliform a body of water can take in and still meet state water-quality standards for shellfishing. DHEC will use computer modeling to determine what percentage the loads must fall to meet state standards. It will publish the results of that modeling.

The report is not expected until late 2009, said Mihir Mehta of DHEC's Bureau of Water.

Grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are available to help improve impaired waters but cannot be awarded until a TMDL report is produced, Mehta said.

ARE 'BEST PRACTICES' REALLY BEST?

Bluffton officials, who heard objections to new development near the Okatie as recently as Tuesday, say current town ordinances provide enough protection for the river.

"I sat down with the Coastal Conservation League, and they've asked us to wait for (the state) study," said Marc Orlando, assistant town manager for planning. "I ask, 'Please tell us what in Bluffton you think isn't working,' because we believe it is."

The town's new stormwater ordinance, adopted in 2007, requires:

• The first inch of runoff to soak into groundwater, using "best management practices,"tools that have successfully reduced runoff. Those tools include retaining ponds, sunken islands and buffers of vegetation.

• Half of the parking spaces in commercial and multi-family projects to be pervious, which allow runoff to soak into the ground.

• Inspections of construction projects twice a month to ensure stormwater controls work properly.

"We do realize that the ordinance needs to better address stormwater quantity," Orlando said. "It does a great job to address quality."

Jeff McNesby, the town's director of environmental protection, said the "May River Headwaters War Plan" could offer solutions for problems in the Okatie. The war plan is a three-year, $3 million project to find ways to reduce pollution, regularly sample water quality in key areas and identify contamination sources in the May River.

State and local officials working on that plan have said the volume of runoff flowing into the May is diluting salinity levels and causing the high pollution counts.

The same things could be happening in the Okatie.

Bluffton's regulations have been adopted in part by Beaufort County. The county is also in the process of changing its stormwater regulations to include more stringent rules.

Andrea Malloy of the Coastal Conservation League said many officials rely too much on best management practices to eliminate or reduce runoff in area rivers.

"We won't know how good our BMPs are until we get to test them out more places," she said. "There is such an unblinking faith that nothing can go wrong as long as we adhere to our BMPs, and I don't think our BMPs were put there to allow us to develop absolutely everywhere. I think they were put there to make development that we have to have ... least harmful."

Weston Newton, chairman of Beaufort County Council, agrees current controls aren't strong enough.

Why does he think so?

"Because it's in the context of the current BMPs that we continue to suffer degradation of our waterways," he said. "This is perhaps the most significant item that is facing us and will face us in the near future. I think the state absolutely has a big role to play in terms of looking at cross jurisdictional impacts. ... We've got to find a way to do more than is being done today."