Press Releases

Officials with the N.C. Division of Water Resources continue to urge the public to avoid contact with green or blue water in the Chowan River due to an ongoing algal bloom that has lingered in the area since June 20.

The N.C. Division of Water Resources is seeking public feedback on a proposed reclassification of Enka Lake, a portion of Bill Moore Creek in Buncombe County (French Broad River Basin).  The Biltmore Lake Association has requested that Enka Lake be reclassified from Class C to Class B.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality was notified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of their denial of the Lower Cape Fear River (LCFR) supplemental classification as swamp waters. The original effort to push to reclassify the river was driven by the previous administration, approved by the EMC in 2015, and eventually submitted to the EPA earlier this year.

The State Water Infrastructure Authority has approved $100.4 million in loans and grants that will help North Carolina local governments pay for 34 drinking water and wastewater projects.

The N.C. Division of Coastal Management is accepting proposals from local governments in the 20 coastal counties for Planning and Management Grants for fiscal year 2019. A total of $100,000 in matching funds is available in this year’s grant cycle for planning and management projects. The division will prioritize funding for natural hazards and storm recovery projects. Proposals for projects not related to natural hazards and storm recovery may be submitted for non-prioritized funding consideration. The maximum request that will be considered for a single project is $20,000.

The N.C. Division of Water Resources is seeking public feedback on a draft wastewater permit and draft special order by consent for Duke Energy’s Asheville Steam Electric Plant. The draft wastewater permit is a modification to the plant’s existing permit, while the special order by consent has been requested by Duke Energy to address issues related to seeps from coal ash basins at the Buncombe County facility.

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries will hold a public hearing on a proposed shellfish lease in Hyde County at 6 p.m. Aug. 22 at the Hyde County Courthouse, 30 Oyster Creek Road, Swan Quarter.

The State Water Infrastructure Authority will meet in Raleigh July 18 at the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, 4021 Carya Drive. The meeting is open to the public, with an opportunity for informal public comments.

The N.C. Division of Air Quality (DAQ) will celebrate the innovative ideas of state seventh graders Saturday at the N.C. Transportation Museum in Spencer on Saturday.  As part of the North Carolina 2018 AQ-IQ Contest, the students created projects highlighting air quality issues and their ideas for solving them.

UPDATE AS OF Aug. 13, 2019: For bottled water requests and issues, please call 910-678-1101. State officials are providing new contact information for bottled water issues relating to GenX in the Fayetteville area. Chemours’ new contact for bottled water distribution is Selena Locklear. She can be reached at (910) 678-1179 or by email at Selene.Locklear@chemours.com.