The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources (DWR) has issued the revised wastewater discharge permit for Martin Marietta Materials Inc.’s Vanceboro Quarry.
The permit was previously approved in February 2025 following a public hearing held Nov. 19, 2024, in Washington, North Carolina. DEQ rescinded the permit based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s San Francisco v. EPA, 145 S. Ct 704 (2025) decision. DEQ released a revised permit for public comment on Sept 26.
The new, revised final permit regulates the discharge of 12 million gallons per day of mine dewatering (pumped groundwater and stormwater from the mine pit) and stormwater discharge from two outfalls to unnamed tributaries of Blounts Creek, which is classified as a Class C, Swamp, Nutrient Sensitive Waterbody in the Tar-Pamlico River Basin.
Class C waterways are protected for uses including survival of aquatic life and maintenance of fish and wildlife, agricultural and secondary contact recreation, such as wading or boating.
The revised permit requires an assessment of biological integrity, or the condition of the organisms such as fish and insects in a waterway, once every two years through sampling for benthos, or small aquatic organisms that live in water, with the first sampling event to occur between Feb. 1 through March 15, after the discharge begins.
The permit includes a requirement to monitor monthly for pH levels, total suspended solids (TSS) and turbidity – a measure of suspended material – in the discharge, or effluent, from the mine.
Permit details and a technical fact sheet can be found online: DWR Vanceboro Quarry permit file.