Wendell News Outlet

Informational News of interest for the citizens in and around Wendell, North Carolina. Postings on this site are the property of Glenn Harris and cannot be copied without express written permission. Archives are listed at the bottom of the home page.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

WakeUp Wake County Update

Want to swim in Falls Lake? Think again.
This month two Falls Lake beaches have been closed due to high levels of bacteria. And this is the water we drink. Both Falls Lake and Jordan Lake -- Wake County's drinking supply reservoirs -- are rated as "impaired." That means they're polluted, from stormwater run-off and overgrown with potentially toxic algae.

PLEASE CONTACT YOUR WAKE SENATORS IN THE NC GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND ASK THEM TO CLEAN UP THESE LAKES! Send an email or call them in the next few days and ask them to: (you may cut and paste from this email):

Please support House bill, HB 239, which will put rules in motion to clean up Jordan Lake. Also, please bring HB 239 to a vote of the full Senate as soon as possible (attempts are being made to weaken the bill right now!). It has taken 12 years of negotiations to get here and it is time to act.
For Falls Lake, please support Wake Senator Josh Stein's recommendations to move up the deadline and establish interim guidelines for developing rules to clean up Falls Lake. The state has already been given a year extension to establish rules for improving Falls Lake water quality. Action is urgently needed to set guidelines to clean up the lake!

Contact Wake NC Senators: Richard Stevens, Dan Blue and Neal Hunt at richard.stevens@ncleg.net; dan.blue@ncleg.net; neal.hunt@ncleg.net

Background on Lake issues:

Jordan Lake - Within just 20 years, Jordan Lake became badly polluted. Twelve years later, rules have been negotiated between the state, municipalities and other stakeholders to direct action to help clean it up. Unfortunately, some in the NC General Assembly and at the NC Dept. of Transportation don't want these rules to proceed and are trying to weaken the proposed rules. A compromise was recently negotiated between upstream cities and downstream water consumers and clean water advocates. This compromise legislation, HB 239, passed the NC House of Representatives, and now the NC Senate will consider this compromise.

Falls Lake - Falls Lake and the streams flowing into it have been declared impaired/polluted. Rules were supposed to be developed for cleaning up Falls Lake by July of this year. Well, the state isn't meeting the deadline and wants to move their deadline all the way to November, 2011! It could take many years for these rules to be developed and implemented too -- just like Jordan Lake! Meanwhile, the lake is getting worse and Raleigh's Public Utility must use more chemicals to keep it clean to drink. WakeUP is communicating with city and state officials about getting moving with the rules. We also need incentives to encourage stormwater protections of the lake NOW, until the rules are developed. Wake Senator Josh Stein got a bill passed in the NC Senate that would do just that - SB 1020. Many thanks to Senator Stein!

*** To Support WakeUP's advocacy for cleaner drinking water and protections as Wake County grows, please consider donating $20 TODAY! Click here to donate for clean water!

posted by Administrator # 8:15 PM

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