Industrial-scale farms in South Carolina may soon face restrictions on the amount of water they draw from the ground, but two agricultural groups are fighting the possibility of new rules. In a seven-county area - the region between Aiken and Columbia - farms currently have no restrictions on how much groundwater they withdraw each year. Now, however, the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) are mulling new rules that could limit groundwater withdrawal from agriculture, with plans to vote on the proposed regulations next month.
The SC Farm Bureau and the Palmetto Agribusiness Council oppose the potential regulations. The Agribusiness Council stated in a letter to the DHEC that there has not yet been “sound, obvious science-based data” that definitively supports the need for a change.
However, a DHEC study on groundwater conducted in 2017 showed that groundwater levels have dropped anywhere from eight to 15 feet in parts of the area, The State reports.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), water used for irrigation accounts for nearly 65% of the world’s freshwater withdrawals (excluding thermoelectric power). The Center for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that management strategies are the most important way to improve agricultural water use; examples of strategies include improved irrigation scheduling and crop-specific irrigation management, which allow for the conservation of water and energy, and decrease costs for growers.
The agriculture industry is being squeezed by increasing shortages of water, even as it is called on to boost production levels in order to serve a steadily rising population. This is driving the global market for smart agriculture, which will see a 13.5% CAGR over the period between 2017 and 2025, according to a new report from Transparency Market Research. The market will rise from a valuation of $6.55 billion in 2016 to $23.44 billion by 2025, with new technology players continually joining the marketplace, the report states.
