A problem of too many nutrients: 



x Where should 



The cleanup begin? 



From its headwaters near Hillsborough to its base in the 

 Pamlico Sound, the Neuse River is a body of troubled 

 water. 



As the Neuse winds along its 220-mile course, 34 major 

 municipal or industrial treatment plants discharge nutrient- 

 rich effluent into its watershed. Urban run-off from the likes 

 of Durham, Raleigh, Wilson, Smithfield, Kinston and 

 Goldsboro wash more nutrients into the river. And the 

 Neuse acts as a drainage basin for 1.1 million acres of prime 

 farmland regularly dosed with fertilizer. 



All of this run-off, effluent and drainage adds up to a river 

 chocked full of nutrients, particularly nitrogen and 

 phosphorus. And combined with the right weather condi- 

 tions (see page 2), these nutrients can cause the river 

 to blossom a malodorous scum of nuisance blue-green algae. 



This summer a bloom coated the Neuse from Kinston to 

 New Bern. Blooms developed as far upstream as Golds- 

 boro. And state environmental officials warned that the 

 newly completed Falls Lake Reservoir along the upper 

 Neuse, slated to become Raleigh's sole source of drinking 

 water by 1985, would face problems from algal blooms 

 unless preventive steps were taken soon. And if the Falls 

 Lake blooms, Raleigh residents are likely to taste the effects 

 of the algae in their drinking water, scientists say. 



Photo by Nancy Davis 



Paerl sampling the waters of the Neuse 



State officials, scientists and citizens are worried that the 

 Neuse will follow in the footsteps of the Chowan River in 

 northeastern North Carolina. Green mats of algae clogged 

 the Chowan from Tunis to Edenhouse this summer, one of 

 the most extensive blooms to plague the river. 



The state issues an "algal index" for the Chowan, which 

 rates the river from zero to 10 based on the size of the algal 

 blooms. The higher the rating, the more algae present and 

 the greater the interference with swimming, boating, fishing 

 and wildlife. During late summer, the Chowan was rated at 

 8.5. 



But the state Environmental Management Commission 

 (EMC) has already classified the Chowan as "nutrient sen- 

 sitive," a designation which allows the commission to place 

 stringent controls on point-source discharge of effluent. 

 Most of the sewage treatment plants along the Chowan will 

 convert to land-application systems by 1986, to comply 

 with an EMC ruling that limits phosphorus input to 1 

 milligram per liter. Most sewage treatment facilities found 

 it cheaper to convert to land-application systems than to in- 

 stall chemical treatment equipment. 



But not all of the Chowan's problems originate at North 

 Carolina sewage treatment plants. Much of the river's basin 

 lies in Virginia. 



"If we can get agriculture and Virginia to do their part, 

 we expect things to improve on the Chowan in the next five 

 years," says George Everett, an environmental scientist for 

 the water quality section of the state Division of Environ- 

 mental Management (DEM). 



The state's experience with the Chowan has prepared it 

 for the eutrophication (rich in dissolved nutrients) problems 

 now cropping up along the Neuse. Officials say they hope to 

 slow the nutrient input along the Neuse before the problem 

 reaches the magnitude of the problem on the Chowan. 



But the state must be prepared to act quickly on the 

 Neuse, Everett says. "We waited until things were bad on 

 the Chowan before we acted," he says. "We can't wait that 

 long on the Neuse. During our first five years of studying 

 the Neuse, the problem has accelerated faster than we ex- 

 pected." 



But Everett says the state needs to know how much 

 nutrient reduction is needed before it starts imposing costly 

 clean-up measures. "We're looking to Hans Paerl (Sea 

 Grant researcher at the UNC Institute of Marine Science) 



