Agenda - 08-26-1991 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Attachment 2: DEM Information Package BACKGROUND INFORMATION 4'7 In June of 1989 the General Assembly of North Carolina adopted House Bill 156, the Water Supply Watershed Protection Act, which called for mandatory minimum statewide watershed protection requirements for all surface waters used as a source for raw drinking water (Copy included as Appendix A). In accordance with this Act, water supply rules and classifications were developed and taken to public hearing in August of 1990. These rules were developed with the assistance of a Water Supply Watershed Protection Advisory Council created by HE 156. This Council consists of 19 members from state and local governments as well as representatives with development, environmental and industrial /commercial concerns. The Council reviewed related information and discussed a number of key issues involved in the development of the watershed protection requirements. In conjunction with the rules, eight public hearings were held across the state and numerous local governments, individuals and organizations provided verbal and written comments on the rules as proposed at that time. Based on these comments and recommendations from the Division of Environmental Management (DEM) staff and the hearing officers, the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) adopted Water Supply Watershed Protection Rules in December 1990. Adoption of the rules allowed the EMC to satisfy the first of three statutory deadlines mandated by HE 156 - adoption of rules for the classification and protection of all surface water supplies by January 1, 1991. Although the rules have been adopted, they are not currently effective and will not become effective until early 1992. The second deadline established in HE 156 requires the reclassification of all existing surface waters used for water supply purposes according to the adopted rules. DEM, along with assistance from the Division of Community Assistance (DCA), gathered information on existing wastewater discharges and land use within water supply watersheds. This information was used to develop proposed water supply classifications which the EMC approved for this hearing process at their May 1991 - commission meeting. These proposed classifications along with some proposed modifications to the adopted rules and portions of the rules previously adopted are open for public comment during this hearing process. Additional information on comment procedures is outlined later in this public information package. Summary of Adgpteg Ruleg Table 1 in Appendix C of this information package provides a summary of the adopted classifications and their associated protec- tion requirements. The adopted rules outline four (4) surface water supply classification: WS -I,, WS -II, WS --III and WS -IV. There has been some confusion that all surface waters in the state will be reclassified under one of these four classifications. This is not the case. Only those surface waters used or intended to be used for drinking water purposes will be reclassified in this 1