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The Lake Wylie Marine Commission has withdrawn its support for Charlotte’s proposed Interbasin Transfer Certificate, citing concerns that the lake would soon reach capacity. It’s a wonky-sounding name for something that has big real-world consequences.
To set the scene: Charlotte Water has asked state regulators for permission to nearly double the daily volume of water it withdraws from the Catawba River Basin. In 2024, the Lake Wylie Marine Commission supported the agreement, provided it included additional water protections for the lake. That changed when new modeling from the Catawba-Wateree Water Management Group showed the water on Lake Wylie could fall below its intake levels by 2035 — even before factoring in future impacts from new data center development.
“What we thought was 40 years in the future is now on us,” said Ray Webber, executive director of the Lake Wylie Marine Commission.
Lake Wylie is facing pressure beyond the IBT and new development. Webber said the lake is filling up with sediment. This is limiting drinking water capacity, helping weeds spread and cutting off residents’ access to their silted-in coves.
Our lakes and rivers are filled with tiny particles of dirt, sand and other matter, which give the water its dark and often ruddy hue. When those particles settle on the ground, it's called sedimentation. Water treatment plants use a similar process to purify water for drinking. It can also destroy a lake.
“My predecessor [said], ‘sedimentation is a cancer on the lake,’” Webber said. “And it really is.”
He said the lake would fill up fast without intervention.
Sedimentation is natural, and lakes fill up over time. But when it rains, stormwater passes through agricultural lands, construction sites and developed areas, picking up chemicals, sediments and other pollutants. Without healthy wetland and forest buffers, those particulates wash into our waters, erode the banks, and rapidly age the lake.
This year’s drought highlighted the problem. Lake levels dropped, revealing accumulated muck along the shoreline, where vegetation had already started creeping inward. Webber said that if the county wants Wylie to keep serving as a reservoir, it needs to dredge the lake edges.
He also praised Mecklenburg County for its “stringent stormwater requirements” before throwing some shade at the county’s neighbor across the water.
“I would like for you guys to talk to your brethren over in Gaston County. That would be awesome,” Webber said. “Because they’re not quite where you’re at.”
He said the Lake Wylie Marine Commission has been working with Gaston County to improve its stormwater requirements — with “limited success” — by strengthening permitting, requiring construction site clearings and beefing up site inspections.
Vice Chair Leigh Altman described the presentation as sobering. Commissioner Elaine Powell called the Interbasin Transfer “risky business.”
The decision on Charlotte Water’s request now rests with the state.
