Agenda - 08-17-1993 - VIII-H - Laserfiche WebLink

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11 Proposal For a Falls Lake Watershed Association Avery C. Upchurch As the discussions in various public settings continue on the issue of Falls Lake Watershed protection, it is important that local governments express their continued support for effective watershed management while acknowledging that we have to work within a regional context. We have to acknowledge the following realities that affect our watershed protection efforts: 1. There are a number of independent local governments with land use planning responsibilities for the watershed of Falls Lake. 2. The state has established a series of minimum standards for local governments to follow. 3. We have to be willing to work within this intergovernmental network if we desire to establish watershed protection levels which exceed the state's minimum criteria. 4. We need to keep a Falls Lake Basin wide perspective as this is the key to the long range protection of Falls Lake. In the debate about improving watershed protection, we should remind ourselves of how far we have progressed in the past 5 years. The proposal for having watershed wide land use standards received its greatest push from the Raleigh City Council when we asked the Wake Delegation to the General Assembly to introduce a watershed protection bill in 1987. We did not succeed that year, but the General Assembly created a study committee which provided the background for the subsequent watershed legislation adopted in 1989. As with legislation of such magnitude, it has been subject to criticism from both sides: Those who oppose new rules, and those who want more regulations. However, we now have statewide water supply watershed legislation and administrative standards. The state rules have to apply to diverse communities ranging from highly rural mountain and coastal areas to the urbanizing centers. As such, it is realistic that there be minimum requirements. We in local government often complain that the state mandates too much for us and leaves us too little flexibility to address our problems. This is often an accurate assessment of state policy. However, the watershed protection effort gives us in local government the opportunity to enter into collaborative efforts which establish standards that are attuned to specific geographic areas and exceed the minimum statewide criteria. During the last 5 years, we have become more knowledgeable about our region's water supply sources as a result of the area-wide water monitoring program. This effort came out of the initial World Class Region Conference held in 1987. This program was created by a voluntary association of public water system operators and is funded by that group. It is a model example of how local governments can come together and develop focused programs to help each other. The City of Raleigh was one of the organizing entities in this project. As a result of this multi year program, we receive annual reports on the water quality conditions and trends in our key watersheds of this region. We are finding that our area's water quality is relatively good, and meet federal and sate standards for water supply systems.