The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission has extended the public comment period on a proposed rule change that would allow domestic wastewater discharges into zero-flow streams in the state.
A public hearing will be hosted by the EMC and N.C. Department of Environmental Quality on the proposed rule at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 5 in the ground-flood hearing room of the Archdale Building, 512 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh. Speaker registration will begin at 3 p.m.
Supporter Spotlight
Comments on the draft rule will be accepted through Dec. 15 by mail to Karen Higgins, DEQ-DWR Planning Section, 1611 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1611, or by email to publiccomments@deq.nc.gov.
The EMC, which is the rulemaking body that oversees and adopts rules for several divisions within DEQ, is required to adopt rules allowing domestic wastewater discharges to low-flow streams under Session Law 2024-44 (s. 5.1).
Lawmakers in 2024 adopted a provision to the law that mandates DEQ develop draft rules that permit households and light-industrial businesses to release up to 2 million gallons per day of treated wastewater into zero-flow surface waters, such as perennial streams, unnamed tributaries and wetlands.
