THIS PAGE, TOP TO BOTTOM: A water lily offers 

 beauty. • Kenneth Bate man speaks with Senior Bank 

 Manager Ted Godwin about the bioretentbn area at 

 K.S. Bank in Smithfield. • River Bend is nestled along- 

 side the Trent River. • Smithfield-Selma Senior High 

 School students remove litter from their outdoor class- 

 room — later designing a net to trap the pesky trash. 



SUCCESS S" _ 

 FLOW ALONG 

 THE NEUSE 



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I he search for the cause of a series of fish kills in 1995 erupted in concern for the state of 

 water quality in the Neuse River and its estuary. Nutrient loading, Pfiesteria piscida and other 

 factors were linked to water degradation. 



Studies rapidly evolved into action with the 1996 diafting of the Neuse River Nutrient 

 Sensitive Waters Management Strategy. The "Neuse Rules" became the first basinwide strategy 

 in the state. 



It's been more than five years since the Environmental Management Commission put the 

 rules into effect on Aug. 1 , 1998. Goals calling for a 30 percent reduction in nitrogen loading by 

 the year 2003 have been met, and the Neuse River seems to be showing improvement 



"The general tendency for total nitrogen data in the Neuse River and estuary is a slight 

 downward trend over the past five years," says Ken Reckhow, director of the University of North 

 Carolina Water Resources Research Institute. 



There are various hypotheses as to why the decrease in nitrogen occurred, but as Reckhow 

 points out, it is likely due to a number of factors rather than a single factor. 



Committed to continual improvement, professionals pooled their knowledge at Neuse River 

 Basin: Five Years of Progress, a conference focusing on stormwater management. 



Stormwater is a nonpoint source of pollution — having no defined point of entry into the 

 water system. As opposed to point source pollution — discharge from a pipe or ditch associ- 

 ated with a particular industry or source — nonpoint pollution is difficult to locate, regulate and 

 manage. 



Agriculture contributes the largest source of nitrogen. But, as development increases, urban 

 stormwater issues need to be acknowledged as well, explains Barbara Doll, North Carolina Sea 

 Grant water quality specialist 



"In the upper reach of the Neuse Basin, you have to do something about stormwater to have 

 a positive effect," Doll says. 



Large or medium municipalities with populations of 1 00,000 or more are already regulated 

 under Phase I of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Stormwater program. 

 Phase II of the program builds upon Phase I by requiring smaller communities to be permitted 



In addition to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Phase I and II rules, the Neuse 

 stormwater rule — part of the Neuse Rules — targets 10 cities and five counties in the Neuse 

 basin. 



Affected areas, working in cooperation with the N.C. Division of Water Quality, have been 

 required to develop a model stormwater plan to meet the objectives of the Neuse stormwater rule. 



From there, local governments must devise stormwater management plans for their individ- 

 ual municipalities. These plans aim to meet a 30 percent nitrogen reduction goal for new develop- 

 ments through the use of best management practices (BMPs) and planning considerations, public 

 education, identification and removal of illegal discharges, and identification of retrofit locations. 



But what happens when local governments achieve more than is required? 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 17 



