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BY PAUL A. SPECHT 'aspecht @nervsobsenrer. com RALEIGH The state environmental department rejected a proposal by local govern- ments to preserve land along Falls Lake because state officials say they're not sure land conservation would prevent pollution - causing nutrients from entering the drinking - water source. Falls Lake is considered impaired under the Clean Water Act because of its high nitrogen and phos- phorus levels. The Upper Neuse River Basin Associ- ation, which represents Raleigh, Durham and 12 other municipalities, sought to prevent such nutrients from entering the lake by curbing devel- opment around it. The state already has some rules for building in the Falls Lake watershed, which spans 770 square miles across the northern Piedmont. Developers and government members of the Upper Neuse wa- tershed can build reten- tion ponds or stormWater drainage systems to earn points under North Car - �olina's "nutrient credit" system. The number of credits a developer must earn be- fore starting construction varies depending on the size of the project and its environmental impact. Currently, the state awards no credits for pre - Iserving land around Falls Lake. "Land preservation has so many environmental benefits that it seems a logical extension to make it part of the solution to restoring Falls Lake," said Ken Waldroup, Raleigh's assistant public utilities director. "Right now, (de- velopers) can't choose preservation as a means 'for complying with the Falls rules. We were trying To open that door." The proposal identified 260,000 acres - about 406 square miles, - of land as high - priority conserva- tion areas. The state Department of Environmental Quality rejected the proposal on grounds that it doesn't comply with state require- ments for offering in- centives. North Carolina's rules require private and mun- icipal land owners to re- duce pollution- causing nutrients to qualify for credits. Because land CHUCK LIDDY cliddy @newsobserver.com Bryce Tuton,16, of Raleigh paddles Friday across Falls Lake at the Highway 50 boat ramp. The lake is considered impaired because of high nitrogen and phosphorus levels. FALLS LAKE State rejects plan to help preserve land preservation keeps nutri- ent levels status quo rather than reducing them, the state cannot by law offer credits, Jay Zimmerman, director of the depart- ment's water resources division, wrote in an email to the Upper Neuse Asso- ciation. "Offering a credit for land conservation could incentivize it at the ex- pense of other practices for which actual reduc- tions can be estimated," Zimmerman said. He suggested that de- velopment may do more than conservation to re- duce nutrients. "(T)here is a consensus understanding that securi- ng a conservation ease- ment alone, without addi- tional restoration efforts, will not result in net nutri- ent loading reductions," he wrote. Zimmerman said the state would, however, consider reinstating the conservation tax credit. Property owners who want to preserve their land in sensitive areas can apply for federal tax deductions, but not state deductions. "Moving forward, I have also asked staff to pri- oritize consideration of land conservation as a potential enhancement for TRAVIS LONG [long @newsobservecmm A doe grazes along a hiking path near Falls Lake. The lake's watershed stretches across 770 square miles. other restoration mea- sures," he wrote. Waldroup said Raleigh has had a good relation- ship with DEQ officials as they've worked together to create a nutrient- manage- ment credit system. This is the first time the depart- ment has rejected one of the city's proposals, he said. Forrest Westall, exec- utive director of the Upper Neuse association, said he can see where DEQ is coming from with its deci- sion. The state is requiring his group's member cities to help offset pollution that occurred amid ram- pant development be- tween 2006 and 2012, and 64 HOW CAN WE PROTECT WATER WITHOUT COMPLETELY BANKRUPTING COMMUNITIES? Durham councilwoman Jillian Johnson he said the state may want cities to take more active measures against pollution than merely buying unde- veloped land and keeping it the way it is. But Durham council- woman Jillian Johnson noted that other miti- gation strategies are more expensive. Municipalities are finding it to be really diffi- cult to get in range of the standards established by the Falls Lake Rules," Johnson said. "How can we protect water without completely bankrupting communities ?" Westall, for his part, said DEQ rejected his group's proposal by fol- lowing the letter of the rule rather than the spirit of it. "This is an important public policy issue and represents a narrow view of the importance of land conservation in helping to maintain and improve water quality in the wa- tershed," he wrote in an email. Stopping pollution be- fore it happens is easier than cleaning it up after it happens, said Reid Wil- son, executive director of Conservation Trust for North Carolina. "Think about when a person gets a flu. They take medicine to make themselves feel better," Wilson said. "But in the future, they take better steps like washing their hands and eating well to make sure they keep from getting sick. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Paul A. Specht: 919 - 829 -4870, @AndySpecht . .arum i-