Agenda - 03-17-2009 - 7a - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

.+ a 30 February 12, 2009 Dear Chairwoman Foushee, and Members of the Orange County Board of Commissioners: The Jordan Lake Rules were approved by the NC Rules Review Commission on November 20, 2008. This brings to a close a very long process that started with DWQ convening a stakeholder group to craft the rules in 2003, a long public comment period, and the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) adopting them eazlier in 2008. The rules that have emerged from this process are strong, fair and sensitive to economic conditions. The work is not over however -the rules will now have to be passed as law by the NC General Assembly due to continued objections led by Burlington, Greensboro, Durham and certain homebuilder and realty lobbies. Supporting the rules are many of the local governments that know just what is at stake for their residents if we don't clean up Jordan Lake -a vitally important resource for drinking water and recreation in our area. We aze asking Chatham County, Orange County, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Pittsboro, Cary, Apex, Wake County and Morrisville to pass resolutions in favor of the current rules adopted by the EMC. We urge Orange County to join the many citizens and other local governments who aze supporting these new rules to reduce pollution in Jordan Lake. We believe the rules are fair and proportional, and will result in cleaner water not only in Jordan Lake, but in all the tributazies that are upstream of it. We urge you to pass a resolution directed to members of the General Assembly in favor of the rules that were adopted by the EMC and approved by the RRC. What are the proposed rules? To develop the rules, the state estimated the total nitrogen and phosphorus pollution that Jordan Lake can absorb and still be healthy. The state then calculated how much pollution is currently flowing into the lake -and it's much more than the lake can take. Jordan Lake operates as three distinct sections - so the reductions needed are based on which part of the lake the pollution flows to (as measured for the 2002 model) Nitrogen will need to be reduced by 8% in the Haw River arm and 35% in the Upper New Hope arm. Phosphorus will need to be reduced by 5% in each arm. The rules spread the needed reductions in nutrients among all the sources of pollution: * Wastewater treatment plants. The proposed rules require wastewater treatment plants to reduce phosphorus one yeaz after the rules take effect, and to reduce nitrogen by 2014. Wastewater treatment plants contribute approximately 32% of total nitrogen delivered to the P.O. Box 187 Bynum NC 27228 (919) 542-5790 info@hawriver.org