In the July 9th Post and Courier, the safety of our coastal water was featured in this opinion article. Thank you to The James Island Creek Task Force for their diligent work to make our waters safe for all of us.
Waties Island Victory!
A Waties Island victory is here at last!
Waties Island, one of the last undeveloped barrier
islands on South Carolina’s coast and the only one
located in Horry County, has been owned by various
members of the Horace Tilghman family since the
the 1920s. Following the division of land among family
members in the late 1980s, one-third of the island
was sold to an outside development group and
the southern tip of the island was gifted to the Coastal
Education Foundation.
For most of her life, family member Olivia Boyce-Abel
has worked tirelessly towards a conservation
outcome for Waties Island and most recently for her
parcel of land – one that suits the island’s sensitive
habitats, which are home to endangered and
threatened species such as loggerhead turtles and
least terns. Her search ended when the Open Space
Institute agreed to protect her part of the island’s
unique needs, offering to purchase and hold the land
until SCDNR could acquire it.
The opportunity was almost jeopardized in December
2020, when a lawsuit was filed by Coastal Education
Foundation claimed partial property ownership. This
temporarily blocked the OS contract for 18 months,
until last week when SCELP was able to successfully
settle the dispute. We are proud to have ensured the
transfer of the land to OSI and to have aided in the
protection of this portion of Waites Island for the
education and enjoyment of generations to come.
Big thanks to Pilot Chris Carmel from @southwings
for making these impactful images possible!
Take action to prevent septic pollution
The potential hazards and negative impact of allowing 400 septic tanks and improper development near Awendaw’s rural community cannot be allowed. Urban sprawl and uncontrolled growth must be properly monitored. Cape Romain and Francis Marion National Forest are threatened as well as human health issues. From the sandy beaches to marsh wetlands to maritime forests, habitats will be endangered as bacterial counts go up from septic tank runoff in the sea level rise of climate change. I know because I live on James Island Creek, and 80% of the summer, I cannot safely swim in my creek due to the high bacterial levels from runoff after rains. It makes me sick…gastrointestinal, ear and throat infections are what I began suffering, and the primary culprit is old septic tanks leaking into the waterway.
Please join the South Carolina Environmental Law Project as they team up with the Coastal Conservation League and Charleston Waterkeeper to fight pollution. This is from their website, where you can become an environmental activist too.
South Carolina’s coast is experiencing increasing development pressures, particularly in rural areas outside of established utility services. In these areas, dense clusters of conventional septic systems are often installed by developers for household wastewater treatment due to low initial development costs and the ease of obtaining septic permits.
But septic systems can pose dangers to the environment and human health, particularly when densely or improperly placed near coastal waters. Even well-maintained tanks can leak untreated human waste and other harmful pollutants into nearby waterbodies if geological and hydrological conditions are not suitable for onsite wastewater treatment. When septic tanks are not properly maintained or installed in high-density developments, these risks are even greater.
Currently, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) does not review individual, residential septic tank permits for consistency with the state’s Coastal Management Program when they are placed in the coastal zone – which is comprised of the state’s eight coastal counties – despite applying these policies to almost every other type of state or federal permit.
On behalf of Charleston Waterkeeper and Coastal Conservation League, we filed a declaratory judgment action against DHEC on November 10, 2022. This declaratory judgment action asks the court to rule as a matter of law that DHEC is required to fulfill its statutory obligation to review all state and federal permits for consistency with the state’s coastal management program and to order that permits for individual septic systems are no exception. We are also asking the court to order DHEC to publicly notice all septic system applications and permits in order to promote transparency and ensure that agency decisions with broad, long-term impacts are not being made behind closed doors.
If we want to have a chance at adapting to sea level rise along the coast, we must dramatically escalate the priority of improving our sewer and septic systems and their regulation.
South Carolina law does not require property owners to have existing systems inspected or maintained, which can lead to both short- and long-term environmental problems. In Charleston, a recent study of the routinely impaired waters of the James Island Creek Watershed examined the correlation between two clusters of septic systems – an estimated 181 densely placed septic tanks near the Simpson Creek tributary and another cluster of approximately 27 septic tanks adjacent to James Island Creek – and water quality data from two sampling locations, collected by Charleston Waterkeeper over the course of eight years, between 2013 and 2020. That study and associated Watershed Management Plan concluded that septic systems had a high likelihood of being a major source of the bacteria Enterococci in the waters of James Island Creek.
Spotlight on Awendaw Sprawl
Since the Spring of 2022, we kept a close eye on suburban sprawl in Awendaw, where Planning Commission approved a 204-house residential subdivision on a 148-acre parcel known as the “White Tract,” which is adjacent to Bulls Bay and within the Congressionally authorized boundaries of the Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge. In May, the Town voted to approve development of another large mixed-use subdivision (“Romain Bay Preserve”) on 184 acres near Doar Road and Highway 17, featuring 276 residential units as well as commercial spaces.
These projects were particularly concerning, not just because of the extensive construction, land clearing, and road building they will require, but because of long-term consequences unique to this area. If development proceeds according to the developers’ plans, more than 400 septic tanks will be installed. Pollution from septic tank failure is a serious environmental problem in our State due to weak or non-existent regulation of septic tank design, installation, and maintenance. The Town of Awendaw currently has no septic management plan. As we have seen in other coastal communities such as Shem Creek and James Island, leaching of contaminants from failing septic tanks has polluted and degraded otherwise healthy creeks and waterways, putting health and the environment at risk. The risk of septic tank pollution is further exacerbated by sea level rise, flooding, and extreme weather events, all of which are only expected to increase in the future.
Mary Edna Fraser
(843) 762-2594
PO Box 12250
Charleston, SC 29422
www.maryedna.com
www.deleteapathy.com
Global Climate Change: A Primer, Duke University Press
A Celebration of the World’s Barrier Islands, Columbia University Press
The Batik Art of Mary Edna Fraser, University of South Carolina Press