Jordan Lake Rules

Complete information regarding the proposed Jordan Lake Nutrient Strategy can be found on the NC Division of Water Quality website.   

Latest information:

July, 2008 - NC Office of Administrative Hearings - Rules Review Commission (RRC) Staff Comments on the proposed Jordan Lake Rules

Click here to see the comments:        MS Word format - 160K
                                                                   html format - 200K

On July 17, 2008, the RRC sent the Jordan Lake Rules back to the Environmental Management Commission for clarification.   The EMC is expected to clarify the Jordan Lake Rules based on the RRC comments and then present the clarified rules again to the Rules Review Commission.  At this point, the exact time frame is unknown.   It does appear, however, that the Jordan Lake Rules will be taken up in the 2009 session of the NC General Assembly. 

April, 2008:   A public comment period for the proposed set of rules comprising the Jordan Reservoir Nutrient Strategy was held from June 15 to September 15, 2007. 

A revised set of rules has been proposed.  Click here to view the new Jordan Lake Rules.  The NC Division of Water Quality  presented the revised set of rules and Report of Proceedings to the EMC on May 8, 2008.  The new rule was approved by the EMC.    Following adoption by the Environmental Management Commission, the rules must be approved by the Rules Review Commission, a legislatively appointed body that meets monthly throughout the year.  Rules then either become effective following RRC approval or, if a sufficient number of objections are filed to a rule, it is reviewed by the next session of the NC General Assembly

Presentation, Materials and Information (for download):

May 20, 2008
Jordan Lake Rules - Update & Impact of EMC approved rules
May 20, 2008 public briefing held at the Greensboro Coliseum
(.pdf format - 1.2 MB)

Jordan Lake Rules:  Overview of Rules Review Process
and Submission of Rules to the General Assembly
(.pdf format, 1.1 MB)

April 2008
 Report of Proceedings on Proposed Rules For the
B. Everett Jordan Reservoir Water Supply Nutrient Strategy

Appendix C.  Text of Rules with Hearing Officers' Recommended Changes

Appendix D.  Summary of Public Comments With Staff Replies

 

 

Draft Rules and other information:

 

Background:  About the Jordan Lake Rules

The Jordan Lake rules will change how development occurs in the watershed.  In their current form, these rules will be the strictest watershed rules to date in North Carolina with the inclusion of measures that will require retrofitting of current development.  All or a portion of four counties and sixteen cities will be impacted by these rules in the PTCOG region.  Even those cities and counties that fall under Phase II stormwater regulations will have additional requirements.   

Jordan Reservoir is a multi-use impoundment operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The reservoir was formed with the construction of a dam on the Haw River in the Cape Fear River Basin. The lake covers an area of 13,940 acres at elevation 216 feet msl (mean sea level), the normal operating level. The lake is operated for flood control, water quality (low flow augmentation), fish and wildlife conservation, recreation, and water supply.

 

Jordan Reservoir consists of two distinct arms - the Haw River and New Hope Creek arms. The Haw River Arm of the lake has an average hydraulic retention time of five days and accounts for 70 to 90 percent of the annual flow through Jordan Reservoir. The New Hope Creek Arm of the lake has an average hydraulic retention time of 418 days. The Jordan Reservoir watershed encompasses 1,686 square miles and includes parts of Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Durham, Forsyth, Guilford, Orange, Randolph, Rockingham, and Wake counties. It includes all or portions of the urban areas of Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary, Burlington, Greensboro, and several other small municipalities.

 

The Jordan Lake/Haw River Watershed is considered a nutrient sensitive watershed (NSW).  This means Jordan Lake and its source waters are nutrient enriched causing algal blooms and taste and odor problems in drinking water. 

 

The B. Everett Jordan Reservoir (Jordan Reservoir) Nutrient Management Strategy and Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) was developed to satisfy state Nutrient Sensitive Water (NSW) requirements and a federally-mandated TMDL. Both the NSW and TMDL programs include the development of a calibrated nutrient response model to support a management strategy to control nutrients and meet the state chlorophyll a standard.

 

The Clean Water Responsibility Act of 1997 (often referred to as House Bill 515) included legislation to further address water quality problems in NSW waters (NC General Statute 143- 215.1(c1) to (c5)). The act set total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) NPDES permit limits for facilities discharging greater than 0.5 MGD into the Jordan Reservoir/Haw River watershed.  A 5-year compliance period for limits of 5.5 mg/L of TN and 2.0 mg/L of TP was established for qualifying wastewater facilities. The act provides conditions for an extended compliance period, including the development of a calibrated nutrient response model and the development of plans to optimize nutrient removal at the wastewater facility. The municipalities of Greensboro, Mebane, Reidsville, Graham, Pittsboro, and Burlington, and the Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) were granted a compliance extension in 1999. Facilities that did not seek compliance are the City of Durham/Durham South wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and the Durham County/ Triangle WWTP. Conditions associated with the extended compliance period were achieved and the calibrated nutrient response model was accepted by the Water Quality Committee (WQC) of the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) in July 2002.

 

The first draft of the Jordan Lake Rules, which provide a mechanism for the State to enforce the nutrient limits and implement the management strategy, was released in September 2005.  The majority of local governments located in the Jordan Lake Watershed will be impacted by the rules.  Proximity to an urbanized area will not matter.  The main categories covered by the rules are as follows. 

  1. Reduction goals

  2. Fertilizer applicators

  3. Agricultural strategy

  4. Stormwater management for new development

  5. Stormwater management for existing development

  6. Riparian buffers

  7. Wastewater discharge requirements

  8. DOT stormwater requirements

 

 

For more information contact Randy Billings, Executive Director, PTCOG

rbillings@ptcog.org 

Old Jordan Lake Rules - published in the state register, June 15, 2007  (.pdf format, begins on page 2257)

Background: About the Jordan Lake Rules

About the Haw River Clean Water Agencies

Glossary of Terms

Jordan Lake Watershed Map

Map of Affected Areas

Haw River Clean Water Agencies

Alamance County
Caswell County
Guilford County
Rockingham County
Alamance
Burlington
Elon
Gibsonville
Graham
Green Level
 

Greensboro
Haw River
Mebane
Oak Ridge
Pleasant Garden
Sedalia
Summerfield
Stokesdale
Whitsett

The Haw River Clean Water Agencies is a stakeholder group comprised of local government staff from the counties, cities and towns in the Haw River sub basin. They have been meeting regularly as participants in the rule making process and as a group mobilized to pursue the best possible outcome for our local governments in this process.

These are career professionals in engineering, planning, stormwater, drinking water and wastewater treatment who are dedicated to protecting the environment and improving water quality.

They are also responsible stewards of public funds with a clear understanding of the issues, the technologies, water quality imperatives and the costs of implementation.
 

Map of the Areas Affected by the Jordan Lake Rules

 

Glossary of Terms

 

chlorophyll-a – used to measure the amount of algae in water bodies.  Sampling for and measuring all the types and amounts of algae in any given waterbody is costly and technically impossible.  Instead, water experts measure the concentration of chlorophyl-a.  This provides a reasonable estimate of algal biomass. Chlorophyll-a is the green pigment that is responsible for a plant's ability to convert sunlight into the chemical energy needed to change CO2 into carbohydrates.

non point source pollution:   Water runoff without a single point of origin that flows over the surface of the ground by irrigation water or stormwater and is then introduced to surface or ground waters.  NPSs include atmospheric deposition and runoff or leaching from agricultural lands, urban areas, unvegetated lands, onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems, and construction sites.

NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System): In 1972, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program was established under the authority of the Clean Water Act. It is a national system for issuing, modifying, revoking, monitoring and enforcing permits. NPDES permits regulate point sources of pollution.    The system also imposes and enforces pretreatment requirements. 

 

NPDES Phase I:   Phase I of the NPDES stormwater program was established in 1990 and required NPDES permit coverage for large or medium municipalities that had populations of 100,000 or more. The City of Greensboro was among the six communities identified in Phase I.

 

NPDES Phase II: Phase II of the NPDES Stormwater program was signed into law in December 1999. This regulation requires that smaller communities, also known as small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s), be permitted.  Regulated small MS4s applied for permit coverage by March 2003. Those communities permitted under Phase II are required to develop and implement a comprehensive stormwater management program that includes six minimum measures: (1) public education and outreach on stormwater impacts; (2) public involvement/participation; (3) illicit discharge detection and elimination; (4) construction site stormwater runoff control; (5) post-construction stormwater management for new development and redevelopment; and (6) pollution prevention/good housekeeping for municipal operations.

nutrient—An element or compound essential for animal and plant growth. Common nutrients in fertilizer include nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

residence time:  The length of time that a pollutant remains within a section of a stream or river. The residence time is determined by the streamflow and the volume of the river reach or the average stream velocity and the length of the river reach.

TMDL (total maximum daily load) - defines the total pollutant loading a water body can receive and still meet the applicable water quality standards. A TMDL is developed from a study that identifies the sources of a particular pollutant in a watershed, the pollutant contribution from each source, and the pollutant reduction required from those sources to attain and maintain water quality standards.

turbidity - how clear the water is. The greater the amount of total suspended solids (TSS) in the water, the murkier it appears and the higher the measured turbidity.  A major source of turbidity is clays and silts from shoreline erosion and resuspended bottom sediments.

 

watershed: Also called a drainage basin. This is an area of land that allows rainwater to flow into creeks, streams and rivers. Watersheds range in size from a few acres to large areas of the country. Large watersheds are sometimes referred to as river basins or sub basins. 

 
   

Updated July 18, 2008