Program subject to change.
Updated 29 May 2025
Jeffery Allen
South Carolina Water Resources Center, Clemson University
Clemson, South Carolina
South Carolina Water Use and Policy – The Historical Perspective
This presentation will provide an historical description of water use and policy in South Carolina including how lakes or the lack of lakes figures into water use decision making. We will discuss how South Carolina was initially a riparian state, but like many states east of the Mississippi River, has morphed into regulated riparianism as a rule of law. We will discuss how South Carolina has moved toward a permit system, a form of regulated riparianism that attempts to move from a common property system to one of public property. Under this type of system, a water user must secure a permit from the state to withdraw water. Discussion will also include the reasoning behind the construction of numerous large-scale reservoirs for flood control and hydro and nuclear power production as well as the legacy of thousands of small reservoirs built during the heyday of textile production in the Southeast. The discussion will conclude with current efforts in water use management including planning efforts through regional river basin councils.
Dr. Jeffery Allen is the retired Emeritus Director of the South Carolina Water Resources Center at Clemson University. His work with the SCWRC involved coordinating water research with a national network of water institutes and identifying and pursuing critical water research needs for South Carolina. Jeff hosted or co-hosted workshops and seminars on the topics of water and energy, land use change in critical watersheds, and policy and management issues within several South Carolina river basins. He has also been active in research projects on the topics of urban growth models, water supply planning and management, coastal and beachfront management and economic analysis of reservoir management in South Carolina. He has served on numerous regional and state committees and advisory councils, most recently on the Savannah River Clean Water Fund Science Advisory Board, Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessments Advisory Board, the Duke Energy Water Fund Board, the South Carolina Shoreline Change Advisory Council, the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium Program Advisory Board and the SCDNR Planning Process Advisory Council. He has organized and sponsored several state-wide meetings on GIS mapping and water resources and was the Chairman of the S.C. Water Resources Conference and an editor of the Journal of South Carolina Water Resources before he retired.
JoAnn Burkholder
Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
Drinking-Water Reservoirs and Cultural Eutrophication in the Southeast
Reservoirs characterize the southeastern U.S. landscape, and they are increasingly depended upon for potable water, yet their limnology and trophic status are poorly known. My laboratory is conducting a water quality analysis of drinking-water reservoirs across the Southeast. Reservoirs selected for status assessment have at least three years of accessible summer data (2010–) on Secchi depth, temperature and dissolved oxygen depth profiles, and near-surface nutrients and algal biomass as chlorophyll a. Thus far, one-third of the assessed reservoirs are mesotrophic, approximating background conditions; the rest are eutrophic. Most watersheds, including lands within a 10-km radius of the reservoir shorelines, have sustained urbanization and/or intensive industrialized livestock production, in some cases including discharge of partially treated human sewage or livestock slaughterhouse wastes near or into the reservoirs. One or more regions of most reservoirs sustain(s) bottom-water hypoxia/anoxia throughout the summer season. In nearly two-thirds of the assessed reservoirs, the hypoxia frequently extends to the water surface. Harmful algal blooms, although poorly tracked, appear to be common, and most reservoirs additionally have abundant exotic invasive plants known to thrive under nutrient enrichment. The data indicate that many drinking-water reservoirs across the Southeast are degrading as their watersheds urbanize and/or increase in industrialized livestock production. The findings support several broadly applicable recommendations to strengthen resilience of these valuable resources under cultural eutrophication.
Dr. JoAnn Burkholder is a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Aquatic Ecology in the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Her research emphasizes use of long-term datasets to assess chronic effects of nutrient pollution on aquatic ecosystems spanning from freshwaters to marine coasts. She has received numerous awards for excellence in research and for service in water quality protection, such as the AAAS Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award and the J. Compton Lifetime River Achievement Award. Dr. Burkholder has been invited to testify before Congress several times on issues involving water quality and harmful algae, and she has served on several governor-appointed policy boards involving aquatic resource protection.