Water worries expand to South Carolina

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - Officials on South Carolina's lower coast worry if they will have enough water and wonder if storing water in the winter for summer use may be part of the answer.

The Island Packet of Hilton Head reports the Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority is studying where it will get water for the next 50 years.

General Manager Dean Moss says the recent Southeastern drought and population growth worry the agency which draws from the Savannah River.

Savannah, Ga., also uses the river and there are worries that Atlanta could also tap the river after a federal judge ruled the city was illegally using Lake Lanier in northeast Georgia.

Moss says the authority could provide water if demand remains the same through 2060. But growth is expected to double demand.