Withdrawing Water from the Yadkin Project:
An Established FERC Process

 

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) closely regulates the Yadkin Project, including all water withdrawals and discharges, construction of bridges or roads, and other issues that impact the water supply in the Yadkin River.  As a result, all withdrawals of water are subject to FERC approval. 

 

Note: FERC’s regulatory process for water withdrawals of this kind apply to all rivers in North Carolina as well as rivers in other states.

 

Water Withdrawal Procedures

FERC has approved procedures to address water withdrawal requests, in accordance with the requirements of the Yadkin Project license.  The current procedures are explained below.

 

Less Than One Million Gallons Per Day

  • The requesting organization must go through an agency consultation process where the requestor provides general information about the requested use, for review by state and federal agencies
  • Written agreement from Alcoa-Yadkin
  • Notification of such an intake in Alcoa’s annual report to FERC


More Than One Million Gallons Per Day

  • The requesting organization must develop an environmental assessment, where the requestor provides more detailed information about the requested use, for review by state and federal agencies
  • Written agreement from Alcoa-Yadkin
  • Prior FERC approval

 

FERC is expected to include a similar license article in APGI’s new license for the Yadkin Project and the procedures for approving water withdrawals are not expected to change.  FERC did not indicate any need for revising these procedures in the Final Environmental Impact Statement issued for the Yadkin Project in April 2008.

 

A History of Successful Water Withdrawals at the Yadkin Project

During the past 50 years, three new water intakes and withdrawals were approved at the Yadkin Project.  Alcoa-Yadkin successfully worked with two municipalities and one irrigation user to provide new withdrawal intakes from the Yadkin River.  In addition, Alcoa-Yadkin worked with one municipality that needed to increase its water withdrawal amounts over time.