Agenda - 06-01-2010 - 7a - Laserfiche WebLink

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17 Orange County Agricultural Preservation Board TO: Board of County Commissioners FROM: Orange County Agricultural Preservation Board DATE: May 21, 2010 RE: Falls Lake Nutrient Management Strategy Draft Rules At its May 19th meeting, the Agricultural Preservation Board (APB) received a PowerPoint presentation on the Falls Lake Nutrient Management Strategy Draft Rules from Tom Davis and Gail Hughes (Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation). While the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) is scheduled to hear a similar presentation on June 1 ", the focus of our presentation and subsequent discussion was the potential impact of the forthcoming state regulations on local farmers. The APB wishes to convey the following key points from its meeting to aid in the BOCC's discussion of the topic and to offer items of potential inclusion should the Board wish to prepare written remarks during the proposed regulation comment period. The nutrient management strategy outlines a two- staged approach to reduce the levels of nutrients entering Falls Lake by the year 2036: a 40% reduction of Nitrogen and a 77% reduction of Phosphorus measured against the baseline year of 2006. This is a substantial reduction, much more than what was required by the Jordan Lake Rules. Orange County farmers have been working steadily to reduce nutrient levels in the Neuse River Basin since the introduction of new watershed regulations in 2000. Using 2006 as the base line for data collection disregards local efforts to substantially reduce nutrient levels during 2000 -2006 Much of the data supporting the proposed rules appear to be based on modeling rather than actual sample testing from the Division of Water Quality (DWQ). The most nutrient heavy drainageways, as shown on Figure VI -1 of DWQ's materials, are in the vicinity of Ellerbe Creek in Durham. Reading through the proposed rules, Orange County residents, farmers and non farmers alike, are at risk of being held responsible for reducing nutrient levels that are occurring down stream. Will the proposed new rules be able to account for the specific locations within the watershed where nutrient levels are actually increasing? In other words, if input levels are reduced in Orange County but increase elsewhere downstream, will the proposed rules be able to balance the requirements? The APB recommends that regularsampling occur at the Eno River, Flat River and Little River at or near the point where these rivers flow out of Orange County and into Durham County. Furthermore, the proposed rules overlook the impact of fertilizers for residential lawns and garden care. Is there any data to account for the nutrient levels through residential storm water run -off? Most brands of grass seed and top soil sold at home improvement stores come prepackaged with fertilizer. The APB encourages the County begin a dialogue with our municipal and regional partners, local stores and local consumers to discuss the unintended