May River bacteria soaring
Bacteria up 3,150% in Bluffton’s May River in less than 20 years. How did we get here?
BY KACEN BAYLESS
DECEMBER 08, 2019 04:00 AM
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A little more than a decade ago, the former director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Laboratory gave a grim warning to Bluffton’s leaders: If the town’s rate of building and development continued, it would seriously damage local waters and hurt shellfishing in the May River.
“You can’t create the habitat once it’s gone,” Fred Holland told the Town Council in 2009. “You can bring it back to something different, and maybe it’ll be better, but you can’t get back what you lose.”
A recent study at the University of South Carolina-Beaufort, commissioned by Bluffton and Beaufort County, found what Holland and other environmental activists have predicted for decades: Bluffton’s building and population boom has resulted in less green space available to absorb rain, so the rain runs into the May River, lowering the river’s salinity and allowing fecal coliform bacteria to thrive.
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Lower concentrations of salt and higher levels of fecal bacteria — an indicator that other disease-causing organisms could be present — put the area’s marine life at risk.
Eric Montie, an associate professor of biology at USCB, will present the findings of his study to Bluffton Town Council on Tuesday.
For many longtime Bluffton residents, the May River is part of life. The river, a tidal embayment which flows along Old Town’s southern border, is a source of food, a site for recreation, a salve for the soul. It is one of Beaufort County’s 12 Outstanding Resource Waters — bodies of water that provide an important recreational or ecological resource.
However, as development continues to put pressure on the area’s fragile ecosystem, many residents worry about what will happen to the river, and whether the town and Beaufort County are doing enough to protect it.
Michael Finewood, assistant professor of Environmental Studies and Sciences at Pace University, wrote in a 2012 study about development in Bluffton that the “health of the May River has become an important indicator of the soundness of development practices and related high property values.”
Protecting the May River and other surrounding watersheds has long been a goal of Lowcountry environmental activists who, beginning in the 1970s, pressured local officials to adopt some of the state’s strongest stormwater and environmental protections.
In 1996, citizens organized the Beaufort County Clean Water Task Force to study the sources and effects of pollution in Broad Creek on Hilton Head Island after all the creek’s oyster beds were closed for shellfish harvesting. A year later, the task force submitted its final report, “A Blueprint for Clean Water,” with guidelines and recommendations for Beaufort County, Hilton Head, Bluffton, Port Royal and Beaufort.
Of the recommendations, the task force listed 10 “that merit special attention.” These steps include increasing to 95% from 80% the amount of pollutants in outstanding resource waters that have to be captured in rain runoff from new developments. They also recommend establishing progressive land-use policies that favor clusters of homes surrounded by open space to reduce impervious surfaces near watersheds.
“If the Beaufort County citizenry and our public officials ... do not accomplish these ‘ten steps to clean water,’ we fear that the gradual decline of our near-pristine waterways is inevitable,” the report said.
The report, now 23 years old, states that shellfish are the “canary of the Lowcountry’s waterways. If the shellfish is in trouble, we suspect that much more is awry, or soon will be.”
Over the years, Beaufort County and local municipalities have adopted stormwater utilities and other management plans to keep the environment clean, including spending over $1 million since 2009 to monitor water quality in the May River watershed.
Debbie Szpanka, Bluffton’s spokesperson, said the town’s total investment in the May River watershed is “most likely near $10 million.”
In 2002, the U.S. Geological Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the S.C. Department of Natural Resources began a two-year study of the May River that provided baseline information on the water quality of the river prior to an impending development boom.
“The May River represents a significant estuary in Beaufort County that may be adversely affected by planned developments that will result in major land-use changes,” the study’s introduction said.
That study was designed to allow the Town of Bluffton “to detect and correct any adverse changes that may occur with development of the May River watershed.”
The study found that, in 2002 and 2003, “most of the May River estuarine habitats” were “in good condition, although several headwater creeks showed some signs of stress.”
In 2007, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control reported that fecal coliform levels were rising in the May River headwaters as the rate of development increased, and the town adopted its first stormwater ordinance and design manual, which required all new developments to monitor their effect on the river’s water quality.
Two years later, the town and Beaufort County established a water-quality monitoring laboratory and program with USCB. Every year, Bluffton and Beaufort County each pay $120,000 for the lab. In 2011, the town created its May River Watershed Action Plan — an evolving document that measures conditions and trends in the river.
Montie’s USCB study found that Bluffton’s rampant development led to fecal coliform levels in the May River that were 15 to 16 times greater in 2017 than in 1999. One DHEC monitoring station found that bacteria levels had increased 3,150%.
Fecal coliform bacteria, which typically originates from the intestines of warm-blooded animals, are analyzed by agencies like DHEC to determine whether disease-causing organisms are present in the water.
Bacteria levels directly affect oyster harvesting.
If fecal coliform levels exceed a certain number, shellfish harvesting beds are restricted or closed. According to DHEC’s shellfish monitoring map, a majority of the May River’s headwaters — from Stony Creek to the mouth of the river — are closed for shellfish harvesting.
In 2002, those same headwaters were considered to have “good” water quality, according to the baseline study.
Oyster season starts in October and runs through May.
Larry and Tina Toomer own Bluffton Oyster Co. and make their living off fishing from the May River.
Tina Toomer said her family has seen rising bacteria levels in the river for decades, but they haven’t lost a lot of business due to the closed oyster beds. She said she hopes people understand what’s causing the higher bacteria levels and work together to keep the river clean rather than pointing blame at local leaders. Toomer’s husband, Larry, is mayor pro tempore on Bluffton’s town council, and she said the town is doing everything it can to save the river.
“The town has revised a lot of its watershed requirements,” she said. “Nobody wants to ruin the river.”
She said the “saving grace” for water quality in the river and her business was the recession in 2008, because development halted. Now, however, many of the plans approved in the early 2000s that did not come to fruition are happening.
Two of the main causes of rising fecal coliform levels, Montie’s study points out, are human waste from septic tanks and increased impervious surfaces, such as paved roads, near watersheds.
He said charging developers higher impact fees for building near the May River and creating natural wetlands near developments could help alleviate some of the problems.
If development in the May River watershed isn’t controlled, “you’re going to have deterioration in water quality,” Montie said. “You’ve got to have some sort of control.”
Holland, the former NOAA marine lab director, and other environmentalists have consistently warned that when impervious surfaces near a watershed reach 10%, the water starts to degrade.
Kim Jones, Bluffton’s watershed management division manager, said the town is close to that percentage with recent developments. She said the town and Beaufort County have not ignored this 10% threshold, and it’s been incorporated into development design standards.
Rikki Parker, the South Coast office director for the Coastal Conservation League, said she believes Beaufort County and its municipalities have taken environmental protections seriously and have done a good job following many of the guidelines laid out in the Clean Water Task Force’s 10 steps.
However, many developers of projects that failed to be built during the recession have revised their plans and are asking governments for approval and, Parker said, some of those projects threaten vulnerable areas.
“Our biggest issue is with these latent [planned unit developments] that were approved by governments in the Lowcountry prior to the economic downturn and prior to us having the benefit of the knowledge and study of the waterways that we have now,” she said. “When those developments come online, we need to make sure the developers are following best management practices and implementing those practices.”
A wall goes up on another house under construction in Bluffton’s Hampton Lake on Friday. The Bluffton development appears poised for another good year for homebuilding, having recently submitted plans to the town for a 135-lot expansion. JAY KARR
Bluffton’s population has increased 874% since 2000, according to the U.S. Census, and developers continue to build. In recent months, developers have proposed hundreds more homes.
In many cases, developers whose plans were approved years ago have asked to change their original agreements to increase density. Residents who live along Cherry Point Road, for example, have complained about a plan to build more than 600 homes and a mix of commercial developments. They say the plan, called River Oaks, would hurt the water quality of the Okatie River.
Parker said a lot of the latent PUDs are bad for water quality.
Jones of Bluffton’s watershed management division said the town has been meeting with officials from Jasper and Beaufort counties, Hardeeville, Ridgeland and Hilton Head Island to come up with regional stormwater plans through the Southern Lowcountry Regional Board.
Instead of tailoring stormwater standards for developments based on county and town boundaries, the rules and regulations for stormwater runoff would be based on how close the developments are to nearby watersheds, she said. Although Bluffton has had strong requirements limiting impervious surfaces, Jones said they have not been stringent enough.
She said the town is updating its May River action plan and measuring the effect of development on the river. Montie’s findings will be presented to the town council next week and policies and recommendations from the town’s May River Watershed Action Plan Advisory Committee will be discussed at the town’s strategic planning retreat in January, Jones said.
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