Monday, October 16, 2017

Jordan Lake Drinking Water

A friend of mine mentioned to me that Chatham County does not have a representative for Jordan Lake water quality.

I did some research and found it is true. These are the reps to the Jordan Lake Nutrient Scientific Advisory Board: Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham, Elon/Gibsonville/Graham/Mebane, Greensboro, NCSU, NC DOT, and a non-voting member of the Falls Lake watershed.

That is really disappointing. From the online documents I found, Chatham County gets 6 million gallons of water per day from Jordan Lake. But the people who drink that water and the County where the Lake resides have no voting representative on the Advisory Board. Does this make sense?

The Legislature adopted the Jordan Lake Rules in 2009 that were an attempt to clean up pollution going into the lake. Towns upstream of the Lake and in the Triangle complained about the cost of treating their water so it would not pollute the lake, and so the Legislature has never fully implemented the rules. We, the Chatham County residents who drink the water and reside by the lake, are impacted by government lack of action and lack of representation.

This is not a Democrat or a Republican issue. Both parties have plenty of blame to share when it comes to Jordan Lake pollution. Under Democrat control, the Legislature did not fully implement the rules. Under Republican control, the Legislature has tried silly ideas such as the Solar-Bee experiment, and recently explored using chemicals in the lake to treat algae. It is not suprising that the chemical lobbyist supporting chemical treatment was a former legislator, Harold Brubaker [R-Randolph County]. Gladys Robinson [D-Guilford] has complained that treating water going into Jordan Lake 'does nothing for our teachers'. Rick Gunn [R-Alamance/Randolph] sponsored S515, the Jordan Lake non-quality act that would permanently put the Jordan Lake Rules on hold. Upon reviewing the legislative actions of our own representatives, Senator Valerie Foushee [D] and Representative Robert Reives [D] I found that neither has introduced any legislation to clean up Jordan Lake.

From 1993 to 2013 the Governor and Legislature was solidly Democrat, from 2013 until now the legislature has been solidly Republican. Blame them both.

Elections are coming up in 2018. Know the facts, and understand what is important to you. Vote accordingly, and do not blindly follow a party line vote.


Jordan Lake Rules:
http://portal.ncdenr.org/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=fd6c684b-2c8e-4617-a890-551ad77cd680&groupId=235275

Current water allocations:
https://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/water-resources/planning/basin-planning/map-page/cape-fear-river-basin-landing/jordan-lake-water-supply-allocation/jordan-lake-water-supply-allocation-current-allocations

Nutrient Scientific Advisory Board:
https://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/water-resources/planning/nonpoint-source-management/nutrient-scientific-advisory-board

S515: 
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2013/Bills/Senate/PDF/S515v5.pdf

Harold Brubaker: 
http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2017/05/25/former-house-speaker-tried-strong-arm-deq-chemicals-jordan-lake/

Gladys Robinson: 
http://www.wral.com/the-price-of-protection-who-should-pay-to-clean-jordan-lake-/12546867/

Robert Reives legislation: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/members/reports/introducedBills.pl?nUserID=684&Chamber=H

Valerie Foushee legislation: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/members/reports/introducedBills.pl?nUserID=383&Chamber=S

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