The May River and the town...

By Charlie Wetmore

he town of Bluffton has been busy lately in its efforts to protect the fragile May River. As many of you know, the ecological makeup of Beaufort County is very unique. Half of the saltwater marshes in South Carolina are in Beaufort County. Our rivers, including the May, are more like huge coastal inlets than traditional rivers. This means two things: 1) The rivers are tidal, with a vertical difference between low and high tide of up to nine feet and 2) Most of the water (and pollutants) that go out with the tide come back with the next tide, making it take a long time to filter pollutants out of the rivers.

Earlier this year the Town started continuous monitoring of the quality of the water in the May River. Town staff deployed special units, called Sondes, in the river to monitor for pollutants. We recently received the first quarterly report. Two ‘hot spots’ were found in the May River. The Town is currently discussing solutions to these issues with the developer in the area where one of these hot spots was found. They have a limited amount of time to come up with a solution and to implement it. This is because of the Town’s new Stormwater Management Plan (see below). We now have the teeth to make sure that our rivers stay clean. That is very comforting.

In mid June the Town Council passed Bluffton’s new Stormwater Management Plan. This plan will serve to help keep the May River clean for decades to come. It holds developers and residents accountable to make sure that the stormwater leaving their property is clean and will not pollute our local rivers.

In early July the Town Council agreed to purchase a tract of land in Bluffton Park, along with the County. This tract, along with 100 additional acres in Bluffton Park, will help the Town to better control stormwater filtering and keep polluted water away from the river. We will also be building an interpretive boardwalk on it in the future. Also in July, the first meeting of the new May River Waterbody Advisory Committee was held. I have the privilege of being the Bluffton Town Council’s representative on that committee. It is very encouraging to see the formation of this committee for a couple of reasons. First, it is encouraging to see a group of people address issues that are facing our beautiful resource – everything from the traffic on the river and commercial activity to the access points for the public and keeping it from being polluted. Second, you may, or may not know that a major portion of the May River is not in the town of Bluffton. Bluffton could do all she can to protect the river and it could still be hurt due to damaging activities outside of the Town’s limits. The people who form this committee include representatives from many entities. They are all very interested in protecting the river from harm while helping those of us who live, visit and work here to enjoy it as much as possible. At the initial meeting, there were representatives from: The Town of Bluffton, Beaufort County, EQC Beaufort, OCRM Charleston, Friends of the Rivers, a local engineering firm, a local developer, the Watershed Advisory Committee, SC Department of Natural Resources and I was especially glad to see someone who brings the perspective of one who is on the river almost every day (owner of the Bluffton Oyster Company).

While there are still issues with the hot spots that were discovered, along with potential future problems, the Town is taking positive steps toward making sure the May River stays unpolluted. Until this year, there was not much that could be done to hold people accountable for the runoff coming from their land – and therefore, our rivers were at great risk. Now we can all be assured that steps are being taken to protect one of the main reasons that many of us moved here in the first place.

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Email address: BlufftonTalkOfTheTown@gmail.com