Orange County 2024 Priority Legislative Issues with Attachments

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9 UPPER NEUSE RIVER BASIN ASSOCIATION (UNRBA) CONSENSUS PRINCIPLES II TO GUIDE REVISIONS TO THE FALLS LAKE RULES Approval by the UNRBA Board of Directors September 20, 2023 These Consensus Principles are based on scientific conclusions resulting from a 10-year evaluation of Falls Lake and its watershed by the UNRBA,NC Collaboratory, and other organizations. The information now available cannot be fully described in this set of Consensus Principles but is described in more detail in a companion document titled"Concepts and Principles for the UNRBA Recommendations for a Revised Falls Lake Nutrient Management Strategy" available online at https://unrba.org/reexamination. The UNRBA is committed to a cooperative and collaborative process to reach agreement on revised Falls Lake Rules (also referred to as the revised Falls Lake Nutrient Management Strategy). The Association appreciates our positive relationship with the NC Department of Environmental Quality and its Division of Water Resources (DEQ-DWR). The UNRBA will work diligently to maintain this relationship through the development and the adoption of a revised set of Falls Lake Rules. We have had the opportunity to interact and report to the NC Environmental Management Commission (EMC) on initiatives of the UNRBA. We plan to continue this communication through the readoption and implementation of the Falls Lake Rules. These Consensus Principles, and supporting information, will be provided to DEQ-DWR, the EMC, and the NC General Assembly as required by State law. 1. Revised rules are needed to promote effective action and sustainable investment by local governments,utilities, and other partners to meet the goals of maintaining, protecting, and improving water quality in Falls Lake into the future. The UNRBA recognizes the importance of this lake as a water supply source, an ecological and recreational resource, and a flood control reservoir. 2. NC DEQ-DWR and the EMC should move forward promptly with the revisions to the Falls Lake rules, taking into consideration these Consensus Principles. 3. The revised rules should embrace a systems approach focusing on solutions that consider interactions among surface water, land surfaces, groundwater, soils, and atmospheric and climatological drivers. This watershed-health approach should consider environmental benefits, costs, and impacts to users of the water resource and those asked to pay the costs of the regulations. The revised rules should improve water quality throughout the watershed, and not prioritize activities solely based on the reduction of nutrients to Falls Lake. 4. The revised rules should include adaptive management. Implementation of the rules should be reviewed every 5 years, with a report to address new information, conditions, or concerns that have developed during the previous 5 years. The UNRBA proposes that the adaptive management provision also include a detailed reevaluation of the rules completed 25 years after the date the revised rules are enacted. A detailed reevaluation should incorporate additional monitoring data collected by DWR and other organizations, data analysis, modeling evaluations, and consideration of technological advancements for improving water quality. The 25-year review should include a reexamination of the rules, so that changes may be proposed and put forward for consideration. 5. The revised rules for managed lands should be an investment-based,joint-compliance approach. Managed lands include residential, commercial, institutional (schools, hospitals, other state and federal facilities, etc.), agricultural (cropland and pasture), road rights of way, recreational (parks), etc. 6. The revised rules should not require nutrient load reductions from natural or unmanaged