05-21-08: Stormwater is focus of NCCF meeting

(c) 2008 The Tideland News

By Martha S. Ahlquist, Staff Writer

CEDAR POINT -- As a severe thunderstorm rolled over the White Oak River watershed Tuesday night, concerned citizens gathered in Cedar Point to discuss how to stem the tide of polluted runoff that is poisoning our coastal waters.

The N.C. Coastal Federation sponsored the “neighborhood meeting” at Western Park Community Center. Its aim was twofold: to inform citizens of how they can control stormwater on their property and to encourage support of stricter runoff rules now being considered by lawmakers in Raleigh.

Dr. Joe Ramus, Duke University professor, defined stormwater to the 35 who attended.

“The water quality mantra is to treat pollution at its source and to restore the hydrology,” he said.

Pollution begins on land and enters the water when land is developed, or disturbed. Impervious surfaces don’t allow for the natural filtration of pollutants so those pollutants immediately enter the water.

Ramus said the economy in coastal areas is impacted when water quality is degraded.

Echoing those sentiments was Wayne Mobley of the state Shellfish Sanitation and Recreational Water Quality division. Mobley’s division handles the safety of shellfish consumption.

“There were only 34 bushels of oysters collected in 2007 from the White Oak River,” he said.

In fact, 4,445.38 acres of shellfishing waters are permanently closed in the White Oak and Bogue Sound because of pollution.

More waters can be temporarily closed when stormwater causes levels of bacteria contamination to spike.

“My agency’s job is to make sure shellfish don’t make you sick,” he said. “That’s why we’ve been pulled into this fight about stormwater.”

Bill Norris, Onslow County Soil and Water Conservation manager, said there were best management practices that homeowners could implement on their property to reduce stormwater runoff.

Homeowners can install rain gardens, cisterns, backyard wetlands and other projects and get financial assistance from the government to help with the cost.

“The government provides up to 75 percent reimbursement for these best management practices,” he said.

Stricter stormwater management rules for coastal counties, adopted by the Environmental Management Commission in January, were approved by the Legislature’s Rules Review Commission on March 20.

The revision is needed to protect coastal waters, according to Frank Tursi, a federation coastkeeper. Current rules are apparently not up to the task.

“Stormwater programs have been in place for 20 years,” he explained. “I have a stack eight inches tall on my desk of research on this subject and I challenge anyone to prove this wrong.”

Tursi said many coastal county governments were against the stricter regulations, which are scheduled to go into effect in August.

Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Emerald Isle, co-sponsored a bill on Monday to disapprove the stricter rules.

“I was proud to join the colleagues on both sides of the aisle in co-sponsoring this important legislation,” she said in e-mail correspondence. “Any new rules that have such a drastic effect on citizens’ private property rights deserve a thorough review.”

Barbara Garrity-Blake, McElraft’s opponent in the November election, attended the neighborhood meeting.

“I believe our waterways are the heart of our economy and it’s extremely important to do right by our waterways,” she said, following the meeting. “I’m extremely disappointed in our officials who are failing to offer any alternatives to protect our waters.

“It’s easy to criticize but we are steadily losing shellfishing waters. What are we going to do about it?”

Garrity-Blake said protecting the waterways by controlling stormwater is called for in the Clean Water Act and the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan.