New Falls Lake cleanup rules as of January 15

January, 17, 2011 , by Andrew

By Karen Rindge, Executive Director of WakeUP Wake County.

Good news! A plan (or "rules") for making Falls Lake water cleaner began Saturday, following 18 months of negotiations among local governments, agriculture, civic groups and homebuilders. Why does this matter? Because Falls Lake is Raleigh and Eastern Wake’s main drinking water source (so probably YOUR water!), and it’s really polluted. Thanks to Falls Lake legislation spearheaded by Wake Senator Josh Stein, the rule-making process moved quickly under the leadership of the NC Division of Water Quality. The Raleigh City Council and city staff also deserve a big hand for being outspoken for a strong clean-up plan.

The goal of the Falls plan is to reduce significantly the amount of polluting nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus that are causing overgrowth of algae, some of which is potentially toxic to humans and which is choking out life in Falls Lake. Continued development, agriculture, more vehicular air pollution, and wastewater treatment collectively cause serious harm to our water quality. Without critical steps to reduce polluted stormwater runoff, water pollution hazards will increase as our region grows.

The rules require developers, agriculture, and upstream governments such as Durham to take direct actions to reduce pollution runoff. It won’t be easy, but the stakes are high if we don’t act now. Plus, taxpayers in Raleigh and Eastern Wake towns who are not directly responsible for Falls' demise but drink the water are footing the bill in the meantime for increased water treatment costs like extra chemicals and filtration. These costs caused friction during negotiations, but a compromise was reached and approved in November by the state's Environmental Management Commission.

The good news is that there are real steps we can take to make a difference, like low impact development that should keep more stormwater onsite and reduce the runoff that carries the nutrients that pollute the streams, rivers, and Falls Lake. New technology is making other improvements possible, including cleaner wastewater treatment plants.

Nonetheless, we each have a role to play in making our water clean. Avoid using lawn fertilizers, minimize the amount of pavement on your property, use public transit, and create rain gardens. Check out Raleigh's stormwater reduction cost-share program for cisterns, rain gardens and more.

WakeUP Wake County will continue to monitor the Falls Lake rules in the coming months.

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Bull City Rising
01/17 02:01 PM

When will Wake County hold itself to the same runoff standards in places like Brier Creek that flow to the Lower Neuse below Falls Lake… adopt sensible smart-growth plans to reduce greenfield impact… and get serious about restricting growth in the Rolesville area where a future East Wake reservoir will be needed?

Durham and other upstream governments need to do their part, but we’re paying disproportionately while Wake County has more impervious surface growth in the Falls watershed than Durham.
JeffS
01/17 03:41 PM

We are ALL way behind the curve on water management. I would like to see us move forward at a much faster rate with some of the more innovative water management measures used in other parts of the country.

BCR, you’re right in that Raleigh should be just as concerned with the pollution they are sending downstream as they are with what’s coming from Durham. I don’t see that as an excuse for Durham to improve their measures though.
Bull City Rising
01/17 03:46 PM

Oh, not saying it’s an excuse… and Durham and other upstream governments will end up spending hundreds of millions of dollars up to over a billion dollars doing our share of clean-up.

Personally, I’d rather have seen a regional water, wastewater and stormwater authority created with revenue-generating abilities and an enterprise fund, able to levy bonds and to build out infrastructure across the Falls and Jordan areas. We ultimately should make water decisions regionally… and pay, as a region, for all our clean water. That’d have to include sensible limits on development, but that would have, in this case, had faster-growing downstream communities help pay for everyone’s water quality rather than solely burdening upstream communities that are already growth-limited due to decades-old watershed density restrictions to protect Falls.

The Wake Co. BOCC rejected density measures supported by the City of Raleigh for the Rolesville area that would’ve been akin to those in place in much of Northern Durham Co. for protecting Lake Michie/Little River and Falls a couple of years ago, despite the support from a very pro-development Wake County planning commission. We all have to get smarter on what we do here.
whoknowswhatinRaleigh?
01/17 09:50 PM

JeffS - can you provide some links to what other parts of the country are doing related to innovative water management measures? I’m interested in finding out more.

Thanks
Susan
01/28 12:04 PM

Wake County is not doing enough to restrict development and protect the lake. But Durham City and County are even worse. The new Falls Lake rules are a good start, but only a start. I would hope that the counties in the watershed, including Durham, Wake, and Granville will go far beyond the rules by stopping all development in the watershed. And we must remember that just as most of Wake County uses the lake for drinking water, the river also is the water supply for many people downstream.
Bull City Rising
01/28 02:00 PM

Susan: Do you have data to back up that Durham County is “worse” on watershed development than Wake County?

According to Ellen Reckhow during last year’s DENR hearing in Durham, in the decades since Falls Lake’s completion, Wake County grew its impervious surface in the Falls watershed by six times as much per decade as Durham had—100% per decade growth in watershed impervious surface in Wake, versus 17% per decade growth in Durham. That’s based on satellite analysis of apparent impervious surface in the relevant areas.

Durham may in theory allow higher impervious surface levels… but it’s not about what you _can_ develop, it’s about what you _do_ develop.

Understand that I’m not saying Durham doesn’t need to make changes. But it’s hard to drive through sprawlville places like Rolesville, Fuquay-Varina, Wake Forest and other places, and to see Wake Co. chewing up greenfield left and right only to unleash four lane highways to downtown Raleigh and RTP, and to think somehow that the 17th-smallest county in NC is somehow “worse” for development practices.
susan
01/29 10:46 AM

BCR,
I don’t have the data of actual increases that apparently you have. I was only looking at what is allowed. And I agree that “it’s not about what you _can_ develop, it’s about what you _do_ develop.” However, as the economy improves and developers push the permissible limit, “what you _can_ develop” will become very important.

The truth is both counties are very bad. Both must stop development within the watershed, but neither seem interested in protecting the water. There is probably no use in arguing which is worse when both ignore the quality of the water. The recent change in the Wake ordinance that would allow a shopping center at NC-98/NC-50 is a good example of Wake’s attitude.

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New Falls Lake cleanup rules as of January 15