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TO JOIN THE SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA JOINT WATER CAUCUS TO ENCOURAGE STATE AGENCIES, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, TO IMPLEMENT A WATER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM FOR THE SAVANNAH RIVER BASIN TO ENSURE CONTINUOUS OPTIMIZATION OF WATER QUALITY AND QUANTITY MANAGEMENT OF THE WATER RESOURCES SHARED BY SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA THROUGHOUT THE SAVANNAH RIVER BASIN.
Whereas, the South Carolina and Georgia General Assemblies have formed a Joint Water Caucus to encourage and provide political support for an ongoing bi-state program of optimizing the management of shared water resources in the Savannah River Basin; and
Whereas, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as managers of these shared water resources, along with appropriate state agencies are conducting a comprehensive study of the impact of recent droughts in order to determine what improvements to the Savannah River Basin Water Management Manual should be implemented; and
Whereas, Clemson University has successfully demonstrated in the Savannah River Basin new, state-of-the-art technologies that would greatly enhance the collection and availability of real-time water quality and quantity data throughout the Savannah River Basin; and
Whereas, increasingly unpredictable climate changes continue to make weather predictions less reliable and therefore management of water resources based on historical data less reliable; and
Whereas, this unpredictability and the reliance on rule curves based on past weather patterns has compounded the negative impact of several severe droughts in the Savannah River Basin over the past decade due to unnecessary releases of water reserves from the basin's reservoirs prior to and during early stages of the droughts. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring:
That the members of the South Carolina General Assembly, by this resolution, join the South Carolina and Georgia Joint Water Caucus in encouraging the appropriate state agencies of both states, in conjunction with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as part of their current study, to explore, develop, and implement a flexible adaptive water management program for the Savannah River Basin that utilizes real time data and applies lessons learned during recent droughts to define the most practical and conservative reservoir storage rules based on actual conditions and real time data to ensure continuous optimization of water quality and quantity management of the water resources shared by South Carolina and Georgia throughout the Savannah River Basin.
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