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ENVIRONMENT ............................... ............................... N.C. Department of Environmental Quality report from March said SolarBees don't work ...:..... ...................................... ............... Secretary says he'll recommend lawmakers pursue other options for Jordan Lake .. ............................... ..... - ............... BY PAUL A. SPECHT' aspecht@ne,wsobserver.com RALEIGH The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality an- nounced Thursday that it will remove the controversial water - churning devices known as SolarBees from Jordan Lake because th'' ey aren't working. The move came as the department faced mounting scrutiny for how it has han- dled reports about the Solar- Bees and dealt with water, duality advisers who have questioned their effective - ness. The Republican -led Gener- al Assembly turned to Solar- Bees in 2014 as a cheaper water - cleaning alternative to establishing strict construe -- tion and development re- strictions on upstream com- munities such as Greensboro- that a Democrat -led legisla- -ture approved in 2009. Donald van der Vaart, sec- retary of the state environ- mental agency, Said Thursday that he'll recommend that state lawmakers find an al- ternative to the SolarBees in Jordan Lake because they haven't significantly im- proved'the water quality after 21 months in operation. Jordan Lake, which pro - vides drinking water to 300,000 Triangle residents, has been designated as im- paired under the -federal Clean Water Act. It often exceeds state standards for chlorophyll a, the green pig- inent in algae and plants that thrive off nutrient pollutants like nitrogen and phosphorus entering the lake. FROM PAIGE 1A "L RBEES The state spent $1.3 million to maintain 36 .leased SolarBees ori_Jor- dan Lake and will save an - estimated $1.5 million by removing them. "I appreciate the work our staff has done over the last two years to evaluate the potential of the Solar - -Bee technology to improve water quality at Jordan Lake," van der Vaart said. SolarBees are floating devices equipped with solar - powered pu' mps that churn the water in an attempt to reduce the effects of algae. DEQ reports they can make a difference in small- to moderately -sized water bodies but have yet to improve the water in Jor- dan Lake and have even floated away from their anchored positions." Environmentalists praised DEQ's decision and urged lawmakers to install pollution protections in upstream communities. - "SolarBees don't work because they just move water around; they don't actually treat or remove the pollution, and they are simply too small to have much impact in a large' lake," said Grady McCal- lie,•policydirector for the North Carolina Conserva- tion Network. "It is past time to better control stormwater runoff from new development upstream." Van der Vaart's an- nouncement comes in the wake of allegations from environmentalists that his department doctors the 6 4Z � � work of experts to better fit the administration's political agenda. - Earlier this week, DEQ published what it's calling the final version of a re- port on SolarBees that it posted and then retracted in March. Unlike the March report; which called on DEQ to remove SolarBees from Jordan -: Lake, the final version doesn't predict whether or not the devices will make a difference if given more time on the lake.. The revisions showed DEQ was trying to cover up the inefficiencies of the SolarBees in order to "support a politically pre- determined conclusion," said Dustin Chicurel- Bayard, spokesman for the N.C. Sierra Club. Environmentalists and Rep. Chuck McGrady, a Henderson Republican who co- chairs the legisla- ture's Environmental'