Yadkin-Pee Dee

At Duke Energy, we share a commitment with communities and water users along the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin to ensure that an abundant water supply is available to communities along the river. Conserving water is a shared responsibility among all water users, including individual households, particularly during drought conditions.

As part of our Yadkin-Pee Dee Hydro relicensing process, a Low Inflow Protocol (LIP) was developed with procedures for reductions in water use during periods of low inflow.  The fundamental goal of this LIP is to take staged actions in the Yadkin­ Pee Dee River Basin needed to delay the point at which available water storage in the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission – FERC No. 2197) and the Yadkin-Pee Dee Hydroelectric Project (FERC No. 2206) (collectively, projects) reservoirs is fully depleted while maintaining downstream flows.  This LIP is intended to provide additional time to increase the probability that precipitation will restore streamflow and reservoir water elevations to normal ranges.

The Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin Drought Management Advisory Group (YPD-DMAG) consist of the following organizations:

• Alcoa Power Generating Inc. (APGI), 
• Duke Energy Progress, LLC, 
• North Carolina Division of Water Resources (NCDWR), 
• North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC), 
• South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR), 
• South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC),
• The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), 
• High Rock Lake Association (HRLA), 
• Badin Lake Association (BLA), and 
• South Carolina Pee Dee River Coalition (SCPDRC).
• Lake Tillery homeowners representation
• All owners of a Public Water System intake or a Non-Public Water User’s intake that withdraw from storage in one of the projects’ reservoirs.

In the LIP, drought stages are determined by the following three indicators:

• How much water is in the High Rock Reservoir
• How much water is flowing into the river basin 
• The U.S. Drought Monitor, a government site that indicates areas experiencing a drought and the drought’s severity.

There are five stages, from stage 0 (a watch) to stage 4 (an emergency), and specific actions are detailed for each stage. Duke Energy and APGI perform a monthly evaluation of the three indicators to determine if the conditions in the basin will trigger the LIP.