Water demand projections for a 50-year planning horizon will be used for assessing future water availability.

Overview

Projections of future water use are critical to the planning process. In order to develop State and regional plans that effectively balance the economic, environmental and social needs of South Carolina for generations to come, estimates of future water demand are needed.

In 2018, the collaborators, in cooperation with the United States Army Corps of Engineers and Clemson University’s South Carolina Water Resource Center, began developing water demand projection methodologies to apply statewide. The cooperators organized a Technical Advisory Committee to inform the development of the projection methodologies. A final water demand methodology report was published by SCDNR in October 2019 (available here), and will be first applied to water users in the Edisto River basin. For more information about the process for developing water demand projection methodologies, please visit the Clemson Stakeholder Website or contact Alex Pellett (alex.pellett@des.sc.gov).

Water demand projections will be completed for a 50-year planning horizon for major water use categories including thermo-electric power, public water supply, manufacturing, and agricultural irrigation and for several other minor water use categories including golf courses, domestic water supply, and aquaculture. Water users and stakeholders in each of the eight river planning basins will have the opportunity to review and comment on draft water demand projections. The water demand projections will be used with surface water models and the Coastal Plain groundwater models to evaluate current and future water availability and will support the development of River Basin Plans.