CFE agenda 020915 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

THE NEWS OF ORANGE COUNTY 111] CONTINUED FROM FRONT The solution the statewide task force and state experts have settled on is herbicide, pumping chemicals into the river on an electronic pulse. The group decided to conduct a two -year trial first in Hillsborough with a close monitoring system before applying it to the rest of the watershed. "I don't think anybody has tried these herbicide treatments in a moving system," Hackett said. "That's ,'-,what's new about this and why we don't start rolling it out watershed -wide. ... We're looking at putting chemicals in the river, and that's what it boils down to. But the good thing is we're going about this in the proper way." An environmental assessment —which includes a toxicity study conducted by N.C. State University looking at the affects on both humans and plants and animals —is going through internal review at the N.C. Department of Natural Resources. Once through there, which Hackett estimated would be in three to four weeks, it will become a public document and the two -year trial will start. Monitoring will continue throughout the process. Though the Hillsborough water plant conducted a jar study to test how the chemicals would affect drinking water —and the results came back clean — Hackett said the injection site would be downriver of the plant. The test will cost the town about $5,000 a year, spreading the $75,000 in annual costs among six other stakeholders. "I think it's worth trying because the financial implications of not managing this could really mushroom," Hackett said. Hackett said that while the public perception of putting chemicals in the river will more than likely be a negative one, experts have said it won't have any real effect. The concentration is five parts per billion, a very small number, he said. "At that concentration, it's safe for contact so for swimming, fishing, wading kids— that's not going to be a problem," he said. "The only thing that it does talk about at this concentration is irrigation for food crops." Local soil and water staff have said that no farming operations in the area draw water from the Eno, but Hackett said they couldn't rule out potential families using the river for family gardens. "That will be part of our outreach," he said. Board members agreed that public education would be necessary going forward. "I hope that we're prepared when the questions start arriving," board member Brian Lowen said. "When people start hearing about chemicals, we need to be prepared as elected officials to tell our residents that it's been proven that this is not going to adversely affect their drinking water."