The EPA has awarded the state Department of Environmental Quality $3.77 million for a variety of projects designed to improve water quality in priority watersheds across the state.
water quality
Sound Rivers New Executive Director Chosen
Heather Deck will begin Sept. 1 serving as executive director of Sound Rivers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico River basins.
Summer Recipe: How to Make An Algal Bloom
Not all algal blooms are considered harmful, but the right mix of warmth and nutrients can yield a funky blue-green slime that is potentially toxic to humans, their pets and marine life.
Troubled Rivers: Can Farm Buyouts Help?
With the listing of North Carolina’s Neuse and Cape Fear among America’s most endangered rivers, there’s support for another buyout of hog farms in the 100-year floodplain.
Cape Fear Pollution Fix: Call It a ‘Swamp?’
A plan to address water quality problems in the lower Cape Fear River includes reclassifying the part of the river that flows by Wilmington and the state port as “swamp water.”
Researcher to Study Eastern NC Lakes
A UNC researcher is set to study water storage in eastern North Carolina lakes with the help of state residents and NASA.
Officials Eye Water Quality As Floods Recede
Rivers have crested and begun to recede in the week and a half since rain from Hurricane Matthew inundated the eastern part of the state, but officials are unsure about the nasty stuff that’s heading downstream.
Estuaries: Protection and Restoration
North Carolina’s valuable estuaries face a number of threats and water quality has been diminished by pollution and development, but efforts to protect and restore these coastal areas could yield big returns.
There’s a New Sheriff in Town
Larry Baldwin, the new Crystal Coast Waterkeeper, intends to keep an eye out for polluters and other threats to coastal waters in and around Carteret County.
Can the Cape Fear Take More Mercury?
A researcher says the lower Cape Fear River, already impaired by mercury, can’t safely absorb the additional amount that will be discharged by a proposed cement plant.
Cape Fear Request Draws Fire
A request to reclassify a portion of the lower Cape Fear River as swamp is drawing sharp criticism from some members of the organization asking for the change because it would lower a key water-quality standard.
Oyster Workshop: A Meeting of the Minds
Experts gathered in Beaufort to talk about the best ways to restore and enhance North Carolina’s oyster populations and water quality.
Some WWII Wrecks Could Still Leak Oil
Thirty-six sunken merchant ships — many sunk by German U-boats during the Battle of the North Atlantic — may still contain oil and could threaten marine resources.
Budget Cuts Threaten Cleanup at Old Base
A would-be beach access that Dare County has eyed since the Coast Guard abandoned its oceanfront base in Buxton eight years ago is apparently still a distant dream, as environmental cleanup of contaminants has yet to begin.
Students Get Dirty for Oysters, Clean Water
Students at John T. Hoggard High School in Wilmington braved nasty weather last week to get their hands dirty and help create cleaner waters and a more stable shoreline at Oak Island.
Protecting Those Special Places Along the Coast
The N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund has spent about $255 million along the the N.C. coast. Here are just a few of the places that money has protected.
