North Carolina Agencies Streamline Water Quality Permits on Two Rivers

RALEIGH, North Carolia, October 26, 2009 (ENS) - The North Carolina state divisions of Coastal Management and Water Quality are working together to streamline environmental permitting in the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico River basins.

The agencies have agreed to allow Coastal Management permitting staff to review and approve certain activities within the Neuse River and Tar-Pamlico River riparian buffer areas.

The memorandum of agreement grants the Division of Coastal Management the authority, on behalf of the state Division of Water Quality, to review and approve requests for Buffer Authorization Certificates for development projects that also require a Coastal Area Management Act general or minor permit.

“This is a terrific example of Governor [Bev] Perdue’s commitment to have a state government that works for the people,” said Dee Freeman, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

“You have two environmental programs working together to improve efficiency of permitting protections for these sensitive areas and simplify the permitting process for the regulated community,” Freeman said.

This agreement applies to development activities consistent with Coastal Area Management Act general permits, the emergency storm permit, dredge and fill projects, and many other infrastructure maintenance and repair activities.

This agreement also applies to all minor development activity that is exempt under the state Division of Water Quality’s riparian buffer rules Table of Uses.

The agreement does not apply to projects that require an individual 401 Water Quality Certification or a non-404 wetlands and waters permit.

When requested, staff in the state Division of Water Quality will continue to track and report authorizations and offer technical assistance to permitting staff in the state Division of Coastal Management.

Riparian buffer protection programs were established by the state Division of Water Quality for the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico River basins in 2000, and are intended to limit activities in vegetated areas adjacent to surface waters in these basins to maintain their nutrient removal functions.

A March 2009 report on Neuse River water quality by the U.S. Geological Survey found that overall, the water quality is satisfactory for most uses and it improving. However, dissolved-oxygen, iron, and manganese concentrations, pH, and bacterial concentrations often reach undesirable levels.

Concentrations of cadmium, and lead also periodically peak at or above criterion levels for domestic water supply sources, says the USGS report. Nutrient levels are generally high enough to allow rich algal growth.

Changes in algal dominance, from genera usually associated with organically enriched waters to genera that are less tolerant to organic enrichment, indicate improvement in water qualiy of the Neuse since 1973, the USGS report found.

Yet, Neuse River fish are struggling to stay alive. A fish kill of 3.4 million occurred on August 21 on the Neuse. Then during the first week of September, the Neuse Response Team responded to several phone calls concerning dead fish along the south side of the river.

Upon investigation, the team estimated over 1.9 million juvenile menhaden washed up along the shoreline. The kill area extended for 10 miles, from Black Beacon Point downstream to Carolina Pines.

The USGS says the second fish kill is similar to the August 21st fishkill, blaming strong northerly winds that may have caused an "upwelling" of nutrients on the river, killing these fish and pushing them to the south river shoreline.

In the 1980s, much attention was focused on the Tar-Pamlico River basin, especially in the estuary which experienced severe symptoms of nutrient enrichment, including algal blooms and fish kills.

This led the Environmental Management Commission to designate the entire river basin as Nutrient Sensitive Waters in 1989. This designation carried with it rules and recommendations to reduce nutrient loads to the estuary from both point and nonpoint sources of pollution. To date, there have been a number of accomplishments in this area, but much remains to be done. Water quality problems appear to be primarily attributable to nonpoint sources.