Goose Creek (NC)
Protecting water in fast growing areas of North Carolina
The area around Charlotte North Carolina is one of the fastest growing in the South, with new homes, shopping centers and businesses sprouting up daily to support the ever-increasing population. The region highlights the increasing challenge of managing growth while preserving the natural heritage of the South.
©US Fish and Wildlife Service
Polluted runoff, a byproduct of overzealous development, is the leading source of water contamination in North Carolina, including Goose Creek near the rapidly growing region of Charlotte.
Goose Creek, a tributary of the Yakdin River near Charlotte exemplifies this struggle. The creek has been designated as a "special aquatic site" because it is critical habitat for an endangered mussel, the Carolina Heelsplitter - a species highly sensitive to water quality, making it an early warning system for stream degradation. However, meeting the water needs of the rapidly growing Charlotte suburbs Mint Hill, Stallings and Indian Trail and managing the polluted stormwater that results from unchecked development are threatening these resources daily.
Polluted stormwater runoff from roofs, road surfaces, driveways and parking lots is the leading threat to water quality in developing areas of the state like Charlotte. To curb this pollution, developers in this area must receive a stormwater permit requiring them to offset pollution impacts with measures such as installing buffers between development and water sources, and ponds to collect the runoff before it enters the waterways.
Unfortunately, the stormwater programs planned by Mint Hill, Indian Trial, and Stallings fall short of the needed protections from sediment, bacteria and other toxic chemicals flowing into Goose Creek and threatening the endangered mussel. The state permit that authorized the local governments to implement these programs required only 30 foot setbacks between impervious surfaces and Goose Creek and did not require stormwater controls until 24 percent of the developed land was impervious surfaces, such as roads, rooftops and parking lots. Federal agencies recommend a minimum of 6 percent impervious surface threshold and 100 to 200 foot buffers.
SELC, representing The Sierra Club and the NC Wildlife Federation challenged these permits for not adequately protecting these waters from the damages of polluted runoff. In October, 2006, an administrative law judge agreed, ruling that the state-issued stormwater permits do not reduce polluted runoff to the maximum extent possible, as required by law. The judge went on to recommend that the state re-issue the permits with strict conditions, including 200 foot buffers (the widest in the state) on each side of large streams of the watershed, 100 foot buffers on seasonal streams, and engineered structures to control stormwater at new development sites. What's more, the judge's ruling required state regulators to grant stormwater permits only if they safeguard the most sensitive species in each river and stream. This ruling could have a major impact on water quality in the quickly urbanizing area.
