Susan Massengale (919) 733-7015, ext 227
Date: December 9, 1999
Updated Plan Approved for Catawba River Basin, Buffer Rules Being Developed
RALEIGH -- A state panel today approved a new road map for improving water quality in the Catawba River Basin, and additional steps are under way to develop streamside protection measures.
The Environmental Management Commission adopted the updated version of the Catawba River Basin's water quality management plan, a revision of one approved in 1995. The plan presents an overview of priorities and strategies for improving and protecting the basin's lakes, streams and rivers.
Plan revisions include an update on the progress of developing a color reduction strategy, information on the addition of at least 20 local and four county governments to the state stormwater permitting program, and a discussion of sediment control and related best management practices.
The plan also includes information about the importance of riparian (streamside) buffers to the protection of water quality. The Clean Water Act of 1999 authorizes the EMC to adopt temporary rules to implement basinwide water quality protection measures for the Cape Fear, Tar-Pamlico and Catawba river basins.
DWQ staff will start holding public informational meetings next month to begin the rule-making process. Public hearings on the draft version of the measure will follow. Temporary buffer rules could be approved as early as May 2000.
Rapid population growth and development within the Catawba basin spurred unprecedented local support for the rules. Twenty-six of the 31 local governments in the basin's northern-most five counties requested temporary rules for buffer protection. In the lower basin, more than 40 individuals and organizations endorsed a platform for buffer protection.
The Catawba River begins on the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Avery, Burke, Caldwell and McDowell counties and flows southeast to the North Carolina - South Carolina border near Charlotte.
Development of permanent rules would begin once temporary rules are adopted. The process for permanent rulemaking, from initial hearings through implementation, typically takes at least a year.
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