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Despite record drought, Beaufort, Jasper counties face no immediate threat
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Council approved more than $23,500 in accommodations tax funds to the Old Town Bulletin Merchants Society. The amount is half what the group asked for in its quarterly request. Sarah Bergin, executive director of the society, said the non-profit group will try to secure outside funding over the next two weeks. If the group had received the full amount, the town would have just over $50,000 to disperse for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Although the Southeastern United States is in the grip of a record drought, the water supply for Beaufort and Jasper counties is not immediately threatened -- but it could be if the drought continues, an official from Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority said during a Bluffton Town Council meeting Tuesday.
While the state of South Carolina as a whole is in a "severe drought," Beaufort and Jasper counties are in only a "moderate drought."
Dean Moss, general manager of the counties' Water & Sewer Authority, reported a good news-bad news situation regarding the projected water supply for those two counties over the next few years.
"The good news is that we have a reliable water supply right now," he said. "The bad news is that when (the Lake Thurmond conservation pool) run(s) out, our supply ends."
The long-term effects of continued drought would likely be felt three or four years from now, he added.
Moss said the two counties have not been hit as hard as the rest of the state primarily because they are the unintended beneficiaries of Georgia's release of water down the Savannah River -- sent to maintain the river's ecosystem andsupply Vogle, Georgia Power's nuclear plant.
This supply exceeds the area's need and sends a significant amount of freshwater out to sea, Moss said. The counties are unable to capture it because there are no basins in the area, making water restrictions moot.
"We have a feast now," Moss said, "but we could go into famine unless we get some rain."
Basins are not a probable solution for Beaufort and Jasper counties since very specific geological conditions are needed to build and maintain them.
Rather, Moss said he plans to suggest Georgia's Corps of Engineers -- the group responsible for determining the rate of water release down the river -- release as little as possible.
Given the severe drought throughout the Southeast, Moss said "conventional practices are being questioned," and added he wants the Corps to see "how low we can go."
The two have had no significant precipitation this month to date, although November is statistically the driest month in the Lowcountry. The twoare more than ten inches below their average annual rainfall for this time of year.
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