Mega-farms gulp groundwater for 2nd straight year in central SC

Rusty Hutson watched helplessly last summer as the well he relies on for drinking water sputtered and lost pressure in the blazing Carolina heat.

Since the 67-year-old Hutson was a child, the spring that feeds his well has bubbled to the surface near his home. But for the second year in a row, Hutson saw the flow of water cut in half this summer.

“I’m concerned it may eventually dry up,’’ said Hutson, an Aiken County retiree who lives between two industrial-scale vegetable farms. “If we lose our wells, we might have to drill another one. And wells are not cheap to put down.’’

Hutson’s water woes occurred amid growing evidence that mega-farms are depleting groundwater each summer in a region of South Carolina with no restrictions on how much water the farms can siphon off.

This year, water levels again fell to historic lows in at least four wells monitored by the state Department of Natural Resources, marking the second consecutive summer with sharp drops in groundwater near the mega-farms.

After water levels plummeted in 2016, this summer’s monitoring results leave little doubt that the mega-farms are contributing heavily to the dwindling water levels, S.C. Department of Natural Resources scientist Alex Butler said. “It’s the most likely scenario of what’s causing these draw downs.’’

Those results are another reason the state needs to regulate major water withdrawals in central South Carolina, where big agriculture irrigates with the same groundwater others rely on for drinking, mega-farm critics said.

“Definitely, we need this for the big farms,’’ Hutson said.

Drops follow drops

One example of dwindling water levels, documented by state scientists, lies several miles up the road from Hutson’s home.

Irrigation from a mega-farm that arrived two years ago likely contributed to a 20-foot drop in groundwater levels this year in Aiken County’s Windsor community, according to Natural Resources. That drop followed a 22-foot drop in 2016, the year the out-of-state agribusiness began farming corn, the U.S. Geological Survey and the DNR reported.

At Aiken State Park, at least three monitoring wells show similar drops – in some cases recording groundwater levels at their lowest points since data was first collected in the early 1990s.

In one well, groundwater levels fell by 12 feet in 2016 and 9 feet this past year, both lower than ever recorded at the well, according to Natural Resources data. The wells are near a sprawling corn farm operated by the Woody agribusiness group, which began growing corn on a 1,900-acre tract two years ago.

“Once the new Woody farm came in 2016, that is when you see sharp increases in the water that is drawn down during the summer,’’ DNR’s Butler said. He said groundwater levels generally drop in the summer when people use more water, but “we are definitely seeing bigger dips in the summer now.’’

Efforts to reach representatives of the Woody agribusiness group for comment were unsuccessful.

The Woody company came to South Carolina from Texas and New Mexico. Recruited by another agribusiness, Walther Farms, the Woody group grows corn to feed chickens. Woody also acts as a crop rotation partner with Walther Farms, a Michigan-headquartered corporation that grows potatoes for chip factories.

Jeremy Walther, who oversees his company’s S.C. operations, declined comment when reached Thursday by The State newspaper. In an interview earlier this year, he defended his potato-farming operation, as well as the Woody corn-growing efforts.

“There’s a lot of false information that has been put out about the Woodys,’’ Walther told The State.

Corn, potatoes and questions

Worries about groundwater levels have increased since the out-of-state farm corporations purchased nearly 10,000 acres in the Edisto River basin and set up farms larger than many locals had seen in the area.

Agribusinesses chopped down at least 6,000 acres of forests and began growing potatoes, corn and other crops on tracts that, in some cases, exceed 1,000 acres in a valley along the South Fork of the Edisto River, between Lexington and Aiken, The State newspaper reported in April.

South Carolina has other large, long-established mega-farms that are taking billions of gallons of water. But the arrival of the Woody and Walther corporations in the past four years highlighted concerns about South Carolina’s lack of groundwater regulations. In an interview with a student journalist before the Walther potato farm opened, a company executive described those state regulations as “loose.’’

Since arriving the farms have sucked up more than 2 billion gallons of groundwater, more than some small utilities in the area use. That led one utility executive to express concern last year that mega-farms could take water that is needed for drinking water by thousands.

Walther and representatives of the S.C. Farm Bureau say the big crop-growing operations, which also use large amounts of river water for irrigation. are hard-working neighbors that provide food for people’s tables.

Supporters note that groundwater levels in parts of the area have been in decline for many reasons, including drought. They also emphasize those water levels rebound each fall and winter, after irrigation slows down.

But DNR’s Butler and others note demand for water is higher in South Carolina’s hot summers, so the summer declines can’t be dismissed.

“The fact that we have had some of these drops in water levels the last few years’’ is a concern, said Aiken County resident Peter DeLorme, who lives near the mega-farms. “Large withdrawals bring down aquifer levels.’’

Many questions remain unanswered, such as whether drinking water wells like Hutson’s, could be impacted by irrigation wells. Scientists and farmers want to know whether dwindling water levels in deeper pockets of groundwater, known as aquifers, can deplete water in shallower aquifers, which feed drinking water wells.

A test well monitored this year by the natural resources agency did not show a water level decline in shallow groundwater near the Woody Farm about 10 miles away from Hutson’s home. But heavy rains could have helped keep the shallow aquifer filled up, scientists say.

No one minding the farms

The decrease in groundwater levels noted this year by Natural Resources comes as no surprise to those who are following the impact of mega-farms in central South Carolina. The state’s sand hills, a region of well-drained soils that includes Aiken and Lexington counties, is filled with mega-farms that can take as much groundwater as they want.

Unlike coastal counties, where groundwater is regulated, the state does not limit the amount of water that industrial-scale farms or businesses use in central South Carolina between Augusta, Ga., and the N.C. border north of Florence.

After The State newspaper chronicled the impact mega-farms were having on groundwater as part of a series on industrial-scale agriculture last April, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control unveiled plans in May to begin regulating large withdrawals in seven of those counties, including Aiken, Lexington and Barnwell.

Farmers drawing 3 million gallons or more a month would have to get permits that are good for five years. In deciding whether to issue a permit, DHEC would look at how the withdrawal would affect public water supplies and give the public a chance to comment.

Farms and industries seeking large withdrawals would have to list the amount of groundwater to be taken. They also would have to explain how that might affect the environment.

Since May, the department has held four public meetings to discuss the proposal to oversee groundwater withdrawals. Public sessions in Aiken and Lexington counties will be held in 2018, DHEC officials said.

During the meetings DHEC has held so far, the agency has faced questions from farmers concerned about regulation. The biggest potential opponent, the powerful S.C. Farm Bureau, has yet to publicly state a position on the proposed groundwater rules.

“We have always said we would support the science and whatever needed to be,’’ Farm Bureau President Harry Ott said. “That has not changed. But I’m not going to prejudge DHEC’s outcome and what they are going to say is necessary.’’

DHEC officials had intended to decide on the new regulations in October but extended the deadline “to allow more time to hear from the public in the communities that would be impacted by the potential groundwater capacity use designation,’’ agency spokesman Tommy Crosby said in an email Thursday.

Hutson said groundwater withdrawals by mega-farms must be addressed.

“If they come into a neighborhood and put down a bunch more wells, it is going to impact everybody’s water around here,’’ Hutson said.

This story was originally published October 28, 2017 at 3:02 PM with the headline "Mega-farms gulp groundwater for 2nd straight year in central SC."