(A) Surface water withdrawal permits issued by the department must:

(1) identify the location of the permittee‘s intake facility used or constructed to make withdrawals pursuant to the permit;

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 49-4-100

  • Department: means the Department of Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 49-4-20
  • Minimum instream flow: means the flow that provides an adequate supply of water at the surface water withdrawal point to maintain the biological, chemical, and physical integrity of the stream taking into account the needs of downstream users, recreation, and navigation and that flow is set at forty percent of the mean annual daily flow for the months of January, February, March, and April; thirty percent of the mean annual daily flow for the months of May, June, and December; and twenty percent of the mean annual daily flow for the months of July through November for surface water withdrawers as described in § 49-4-150(A)(1). See South Carolina Code 49-4-20
  • Permittee: means a person authorized to make withdrawals of surface water pursuant to a surface water withdrawal permit issued by the department. See South Carolina Code 49-4-20
  • Surface water: means all water that is wholly or partially within the State, including the Savannah River, or within its jurisdiction, which is open to the atmosphere and subject to surface runoff, including, but not limited to, lakes, streams, ponds, rivers, creeks, runs, springs, and reservoirs, but not including water and wastewater treatment impoundments, off-stream supplemental operations related impoundments, or water storage structures constructed by the surface water withdrawer to provide adequate supplies of surface water during low flow conditions. See South Carolina Code 49-4-20
  • Withdrawal: means to remove surface water from its natural course or location, or exercising physical control over surface water in its natural course or location, regardless of whether the water is returned to its waters of origin, consumed, transferred to another river basin, or discharged elsewhere. See South Carolina Code 49-4-20

(2) specify the amount of water that may be withdrawn;

(3) specify the amount of water to be discharged back into the surface water body and location of the discharge;

(4) specify the volume of supplemental water supply if needed;

(5) specify the minimum instream flow at the point of withdrawal;

(6) specify the minimum instream flow triggers that will determine if the permittee’s withdrawal must be reduced;

(7) specify the stream flow, that will be used to notify the applicant of starting the reduction of withdrawal;

(8) specify the date upon which the permit expires; and

(9) clearly state that the terms and conditions of the permit are subject to the provisions of the South Carolina Drought Response Act.

(B) Permits issued by the department, unless revoked or suspended pursuant to this chapter, shall be valid for a period to represent the economic life of any capital investments made by the permittee necessary to carry out the permittee’s use of the withdrawn water. Permits must be issued for:

(1) twenty years, or a greater period the department considers reasonable based upon its review of all the facts and circumstances relevant to a proposed withdrawal not to exceed an additional twenty years;

(2) thirty years for a permittee entitled to an initial permit pursuant to § 49-4-70(B), or a greater period the department considers reasonable based upon its review of all the facts and circumstances relevant to the proposed withdrawal not to exceed an additional ten years; or

(3) any additional period necessary, not to exceed a total of fifty years, for a municipality or other governmental body to retire a bond it issued to finance the construction of waterworks.

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