Sources of Water for Cabarrus County

Somebody asked me why the local government didn’t develop more sources of water. My initial answer was that additional sources were limited and had their own set of problems and costs. While that answer was true, there are additional sources of water that could be developed fairly reasonably.
One of the most obvious sources of water is Rocky River. People tend to discount it because it isn’t very clean water. Yet it could easily be cleaned up well enough to use it for downstream water at Lake Howell. The EPA requires the release of 1.3 million gallons of water downstream from Lake Howell daily during drought times. Mother Nature would have dried Coddle Creek up in 2002 if man hadn’t been interfering. I’m not satisfied that man knows better than nature in this particular situation. Anyway, to get the water from Rocky River to the dam on Lake Howell would require a pumping station and about 3 miles of pipe. The city already owns land around the airport and some land on the east side of Coddle Creek. The line would only have to cross one road. The water line should be run near the rock quarry. Once Vulcan quits digging rock out of the rock quarry, they might sell the quarry to the city rather than undertake the expense of reclaiming it. Then the Water Authority could fill the quarry from Rocky River during times of high flow. Then when the river gets low, they could then use the quarry to supply the downstream water at Lake Howell. I don’t have any figures but I suspect having both this quarry and a pump from Rocky River on line would increase Lake Howell’s capability by 50%.
Another possible water source is above Mt Peasant’s water intake on Dutch Buffalo Creek. My understanding is that the Corp of Engineers had approved a site on Dutch Buffalo the same time Mt Pleasant built the reservoir on Black Run Creek and that the landowner was willing to sell land for that purpose at that time. In the past Dutch Buffalo Creek has been more reliable than Coddle Creek. This year it wasn’t, but having a reservoir on both would allow us to hedge our bets. Again, I don’t have any figures but I suspect this reservoir would be about 10% of the capacity of Lake Howell.
If a reservoir is built on Dutch Buffalo, an idea I brought up before the Lake Howell was constructed ought to be revisited. Private individuals throughout the county have been willing to construct ponds on their own land for fishing, watering livestock and recreation. Additional ponds would be constructed if the cost was lower. The water authority could subsidize the cost of pond construction within the Dutch Buffalo drainage in exchange for the right to purchase water during droughts. The individual landowner could use the pond for anything other than irrigation until a drought situation occurs. Then the water authority could mandate the release of the water which would gravity flow downstream. The upstream ponds need to be in place before the downstream pond is built or the sediment from pond building will negatively impact the downstream pond. There are probably 50 landowners on the drainage willing to put in a pond if there was total payment. This would give a volume close to 5% of Lake Howell for a cost of around ½ million and almost no environmental problems due to the small size of individual ponds. There would be some loss moving the water downstream but not enough loss to ruin the idea.
When you get out west and see people pumping water for 100’s of miles and tapping every river and aquifer, it makes you realize that we could do more.

We can't let those chickens cluck.

Chickens have the potential to turn kitchen scraps and excess vegetation into healthy high protein meals for inner city children. This has the potential to reduce fossil fuel consumption, reduce landfill waste and reduce poverty. Borys and dhijana Scott-Harmony were demonstrating this in Charlotte. Unfortunately Mecklenburg Animal Control has ordered the chickens slaughtered. In their memory I wrote this song. I think a male country vocalist could do the best job with it, but feel free to set it to any kind of music you wish

Great Tasting Eggs?
Well you’re out of luck:
We can’t let
Those chickens cluck.

Vitamins up
Cholesterol down
That’s not the kind of eggs
We eat in town.

We buy our eggs
From the store
When they have aged
A month or more

Great Tasting Eggs?
Well you’re out of luck:
We can’t let
Those chickens cluck.

Other noise doesn’t bothers me
We’re a world class wannabe.

But Great Tasting Eggs?
Well you’re out of luck:
We can’t let
Those chickens cluck.

Screaming kids
Whistling trains
Barking dogs
Shrieking planes

Bobcat screams
Panther cheers
Verizon concerts
Till you can’t hear

Great Tasting Eggs?
Well you’re out of luck:
We can’t let
Those chickens cluck.

Other noise doesn’t bother me
We’re a world class wannabe.

But Great Tasting Eggs?
Well you’re out of luck:
We can’t let
Those chickens cluck.

Radio Blaring
Amps a thumping
Rock Star cursing
Till the cars a jumping

Mufflers roaring
Jake brakes choking
Gears a grinding
Engines smoking

Great Tasting Eggs?
Well you’re out of luck:
We can’t let
Those chickens cluck.

That other noise doesn’t bother me
We’re a world class wannabe.

But Great Tasting Eggs?
Well you’re out of luck:
We can’t let
Those chickens cluck.

Maybe you should try moving. Didn’t the Soviet Union give you that much freedom? Just don’t go to Concord.

Cause Bruton Smith and the politicians are in bed
To build a drag strip that would raise the dead
With car engines you can hear 5 miles away
You will barely hear some bureaucrat say

Great Tasting Eggs?
Well you’re out of luck:
We can’t let
Those chickens cluck.

That other noise doesn’t bother me
We’re a world class wannabe.

But Great Tasting Eggs?
Well you’re out of luck:
We can’t let
Those chickens cluck.

Farm Land Preservation

I am in favor of letting people who want to live stacked up like chickens in a coop do just that and leaving the rural areas to people like me who know how to take care of it. For example, some of the zoning laws that force people to live in one place and work in another place ought to be changed. Legislate how it will look not what it will be. On the other hand, I don't favor mandating farm land preservation.
The state is going to spend some money on Farmland Preservation. I am not sure this money will be spent wisely.
Some of my thoughts are that the more profitable the farm, the more likely it will stay a farm. So any project designed to make local farms more profitable would be a candidate for this type of funding. One idea that has already been bounced around is a business incubator for value added products of local farms (kind of a community kitchen where a farmer could produce some product and get some cash flow before investing in their own facility). Another idea is a type of “Vegetable Mobile” to take local farm products into various subdivisions creating a larger market than our current farmers market. Or perhaps a small farm incubator that gets some of the farmers who want to farm a chance to start. If you have any ideas, let me know.

And Durn Good Riddance

For the most part, I have been impressed with the way farmers have responded to the shortage of hay. Most are going to cut back on the hay they feed an individual cow but they can't cut out the roughage completely without hurting the cows. They have culled cattle so they need less feed. They have green chopped corn, cut soybeans for cattle feed, rolled up corn stalks. One farmer even baled up some sweet gum leaves. Other farmers have fenced in woodlots so the cows could get to fresh tree leaves before they start falling. I noticed one farmer had went through a woodlot and cut down the understory trees making those leaves available to their cows. Overgrown areas that normally get bushhogged or ignored, have been harvested for hay. One farmer has lost some cows from a cutting like this. Farmers are back hauling hay from all kinds of places on any empty truck (furniture trucks mostly). One guy is hauling cows one way and backhauling hay.
The one sour note was the whining individual who called in last week. Best I could tell he hadn't struck a lick for himself. "Is the government going to do anything about getting me some hay for my cows...l. I think the goverment should help me out..... If the goverment doesn't help me out there will be one less farmer in Cabarrus County."