Local Issues--Water

The state of our water is of extreme importance worldwide.

Okay, that sounded like the beginning of an academic term paper or an exam essay. Sorry.

The issue around here is the Catawba River. It serves as the main water source for communities and cities from Marion, past Charlotte, and into South Carolina. Now, Concord and Kannapolis want to draw from the Catawba for their expanding needs. The mayor of Concord was a high school friend and classmate, so I don't want to disparage him or his community.

BUT, I want them to keep their paws off our watershed. We have lost a lot of industrial jobs here in Caldwell County, and we need for new industry to come in. That new industry just might need some of that water. If Concord and Kannapolis get it, it won't be here for use by that new industry.

Besides, they are close enough to the Yadkin-Pee Dee basin to draw water from there. As one letter writer in the paper pointed out, there is a lower percentage of potential water used from that source, and more water available.

The meeting at Valdese lasted five hours last night with most of the crowd opposed. There'll be another soon in the Charlotte area. I intend to get my comments to the N. C. Division of Water Resources before the deadline.