On January 17, 2014, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) announced they were pursuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for environmental contractors to bid on a statewide water assessment project.
Catherine Templeton, Director of SCDHEC, stated the agencies seek “a true and complete assessment of South Carolina’s natural water resources” to reference when making decisions on matters such as issuance of discharge permits, surface water withdrawal permits, permits for inter-basin transfers, and Federal Energy Regulatory Control licenses.
The South Carolina Water Resources Center at Clemson University is taking the lead to create a work plan for stakeholder participation in the process. The work plan is to identify stakeholders, suggest how the science and modeling from the assessment may be used for stakeholder input, propose meetings, and address how the stakeholder process work plan should be implemented. Clemson expects to complete the work plan by March 3, 2014.
SCDHEC, SCDNR, and Clemson entered a Memorandum of Understanding on January 14, 2014, that further describes the project. That MOU may be accessed here.
