Coastal Zone Management Act in 1990, 

 it gave coastal states an ultimatum: come 

 up with a plan to protect the coast from 

 nonpoint source pollution or risk losing 

 federal money. Congress had concluded 

 that these waters were not being pro- 

 tected by the existing programs of educa- 

 tion, demonstration projects and volun- 

 tary application. 



Stronger measures are needed to 

 prevent degradation of coastal waters that 

 support their 

 uses and restore 

 those that don't 

 — the goals of 

 the plan. 



DEM and 

 the N.C. Divi- 

 sion of Coastal 

 Management are 

 in charge of 

 drafting the plan 

 by July 1995. 

 And since DEM 

 already has a 

 strong statewide 

 program that has 

 met some of the 

 elements of a 

 coastal nonpoint 

 plan, the agen- 

 cies involved 

 believe North 

 Carolina is well 

 poised to meet 

 Congress's man- 

 date. But some 

 tailoring will be 

 needed for cer- 

 tain nonpoint sources. 



The state's first task is to launch 

 across-the-board measures to control 

 runoff from agriculture, urban and newly 

 developing areas, forestry operations, 

 marinas and hydromodification projects. 

 Then, if these measures are inadequate, 

 the state will identify where existing land 

 uses are impairing waters and where 

 expanding land uses are threatening to 

 impair. These areas, usually adjacent to 

 coastal waters, will be designated "criti- 

 cal coastal areas" if the management 

 measures cannot adequately restore or 

 protect them. The big hitters identified in 

 this analysis will be subject to additional 



management measures. 



The plan will be reviewed by EPA 

 and the National Oceanic and Atmo- 

 spheric Administration. 



"It's very clear from the direction 

 things are going ... there is a clear legal 

 imperative and mandate to do much more 

 than we are currently doing to address 

 nonpoint source pollution and integrate it 

 into the point source program," Carter 

 says. 



Trees and grass grow tall over the narrow back reaches ofHewletts Creek. 



But local involvement and 

 grassroots activism cannot be left out of 

 the formula. In fact, they're by far the 

 most critical element, say Barber and 

 McGee. 



Special measures are needed to curb 

 coastal runoff, and they cannot all be 

 addressed by a broad state plan. This is 

 the place for local governments and citi- 

 zen groups to step in. New Hanover 

 County, for instance, decided in the 

 mid-1980s that it would control new 

 growth in previously undevelopable areas 

 that were being offered sewer services. 

 So it created resource protection areas 

 along the estuaries and sounds where 



development was limited to 2.5 units per 

 acre and set back at least 75 feet from the 

 marsh. 



Meanwhile, New Hanover County 

 land-use meetings were heightening aware- 

 ness of the problems and rallying people to 

 the cause of cleaner water. 



"No agency alone can solve the closed 

 shellfishing problem," McGee says. "There 

 must be a great deal of local input and 

 commitment to get anywhere." 



Up-front 

 commitment and 

 local planning 

 can open shellfish 

 areas where resi- 

 dents cooperate to 

 control the flow 

 of runoff into the 

 water. The 

 Hewletts Creek 

 Watershed Asso- 

 ciation is one 

 example of how 

 people have 

 channeled their 

 concerns into 

 action and taken 

 charge of the 

 water at their 

 back door. In 

 recent years, 

 members have 

 tried to control 

 pollution-loaded 

 runoff by looking 

 into their own 

 yards and plant- 

 ing vegetative 

 buffers there. The watchdog group has also 

 worked to guarantee orderly growth in the 

 area by speaking up when the county was 

 updating its land-use plan, attending zon- 

 ing meetings and challenging development 

 plans that could drain into the creek. 



"In the last couple of years, the area 

 has really opened up," Mona Smalley says. 

 "People want to be on the water. And with 

 all the development and the declining wa- 

 ter quality in the creek and the sound, we 

 needed a group that would follow through. 

 Our goal is clean water. We want to restore 

 and maintain the water quality so that it 

 can support shellfishing again." 



COASTWATCH 9 



