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Take Action today for the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico Rivers and help us protect the River Living we all enjoy!

Here they go again. Leaders in the state Senate are proposing to rollback clean water standards that have been in place for two decades for the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico Rivers.  These water protections have been responsible for returning our two coastal rivers once full of toxic algae, dead fish and waters not safe to swim in to the rivers we know and enjoy today. Your elected leaders need to hear from you!

Take Action Today and Tell your Elected Officials to Support Proven Clean Water Standards

The members and board members of Sound Rivers were instrumental in supporting and passing these protections for the Tar-Pamlico and Neuse Rivers in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. It was a painful, 12 year stakeholder process that resulted in a compromised set of rules. To attempt to do away with these protections without any meaninful discussion is bad policy, bad governing and bad for all of those that live along and use the Tar-Pamlico and Neuse Rivers.

Do they really want to go back to those days? Because if the legislature passes this provision as part of the budget, they have started the ship on a course that will lead to more algal blooms, more fish kills, less safe environment to swim in, less fish, and overall a poorer quality of life that comes with polluted water.

A special provision was included in the Senate’s version of the budget that inserted several controversial policies which would block attempts to restore water quality and prevent massive fish kills in important waters in North Carolina, including the Neuse, Tar-Pamlico,  Jordan Lake, Falls lake, the Catawba River, and the Randleman Reservoir. The provisions largely ignore science-based strategies in favor of unproven tactics, such as earmarking $500,000 to study whether freshwater mussels can be used to clean up drinking water reservoirs. We don’t need more gimmicks from the legislature.

Put simply, the provisions in this bill seek to repeal pollution management strategies that have been shown to be effective for cleaner water. Tell your legislators to oppose attacks on science-based plans for the cleanup of our waterways

Media Stories

“NC Health News: Senate Budget Challenges River Cleanup Rules” [6/10/16]

“Senate Budget Calls Out Pamlico River Pollution Strategy” – Washington Daily News, 6/3/16

“NC Senate Eyes Mussles for Cleaning Jordan, Falls Lake”– News & Observer, 6/2/16

“Clean Water Rules under Assault Statewide” – ABC News 11, 6/1/16