A second environmental group has placed the Catawba River on its list of the most-endangered places in the South.
The Southern Environmental Law Center on Monday released its second annual report, "Top 10 Endangered Places 2010." It lists three places in the Carolinas. They are the Catawba-Wateree waterway that winds through North and South Carolina, Cape Fear wetlands in North Carolina and freshwater wetlands north of Charleston, S.C.
In 2008, the nonprofit group American Rivers named the Catawba-Wateree the "Most Endangered River in the United States."
The Southern Environmental Law Center's report states, "The Catawba-Wateree is a 300-mile-long river that provides essential resources for natural and human communities in the Carolinas. The threat (is) a low-flow scheme for hydroelectric dams that would restrict the flow of water essential to a healthy river system, and the lack of an overarching and coherent plan to protect the ecological integrity of the river and prevent over-allocation of its waters."
The report says both natural and human forces have shaped the waterway for centuries, but that new threats — including disagreements between North Carolina and South Carolina over rights to the system's water — "could result in serious disruptions of the river's natural systems and water levels."
The multimedia report is on the Web at http://www.southernenvironment.org/about/top_10_2010.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement