CJt. Edgtrton 



TOP: Wetlands protect water quality 

 by filtering harmful pollutants 

 from runoff before the water enters 

 streams and coastal waters. 

 BOTTOM: This constructed wetland 

 project at a New Hanover County 

 landfill effectively reduced harmful 

 runoff pollutants. The county has 

 expanded the operation as a perma- 

 nent pollution prevention practice. 



federal agencies provide 

 funds for approved state 

 programs that protect 

 environmentally sensitive 

 and economically 

 important coastal 

 resources. 



North Carolina and 

 Sea Grant have been an 

 integral part of the quest 

 for sustainable water 

 quality for more than two 

 decades. In 1974, the EPA 

 gave North Carolina 

 authority to implement its 

 own water quality 

 program based on the 

 federal legislation. Today 

 a host of state agencies 

 under the Department of Environment and 

 Natural Resources and the Department of 

 Health and Human Services oversee 

 programs that play critical roles in 

 achieving statewide water quality. 



North Carolina also enacted the 

 Coastal Area Management Act in 1974, 

 establishing the Coastal Resources Commis- 

 sion to manage development activity along 

 the coast. In addition, the Division of 



Marine Fisheries and its commission, 

 oversee marine and estuarine fisheries. 



The North Carolina Sea Grant College 

 Program was established in 1976 to carry out 

 the national program's mission to promote 

 the wise use of marine and coastal resources 

 through education, research and extension. 



Scene Set for Action 



The groundwork is in place to get the 

 job done, says Barbara Doll, Sea Grant water 

 quality specialist. Doll has been preaching 

 the water quality gospel since the earliest 

 days of her career with Sea Grant. That's 

 when she launched a campaign to promote 

 awareness that whatever is dumped into the 

 neighborhood storm drain affects water 

 quality in that particular river basin. She 

 organized teams to stencil the name of the 

 receiving water basin on hundreds of storm 

 drain covers — a practice imitated as far 

 away as Hawaii. 



As a Sea Grant specialist, Doll 

 collaborates with other Sea Grant extension 

 specialists, university researchers, North 

 Carolina Cooperative Extension, the NC 

 State Water Quality Group and a number of 

 state agencies to conduct water quality 

 workshops across the state. 



In recent years, North Carolina adopted 

 a basinwide approach to water quality 

 planning, developing maps and pollution 

 reduction goals for each of North Carolina's 

 17 river basins. Four are located entirely 

 within North Carolina — the Chowan, Tar- 

 Pamlico, Neuse and Cape Fear rivers flow 

 into the Atlantic Ocean either directly or via 

 estuaries and sounds. 



Doll says basinwide management offers 

 real possibilities for reducing nutrient runoff. 

 Local stakeholders help select best manage- 

 ment practices that are tailored to meet 

 specific site or watershed needs. "Our 

 estuaries and coastal waters can be the real 

 benefactors of these improved management 

 approaches," she says. 



So it's good news for communities 

 downstream when more than 200 profes- 

 sional planners and engineers turn out for 

 a Triad workshop on urban water quality 

 planning; when 200 professionals attend a 

 mountain workshop on stream repair and 



18 HOLIDAY 2000 



