Author: Heather Deck
Climate Change
April 5, 2023
Climate Change
![](https://soundrivers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/WATERSHED-ISSUES_CLIMATE-CHANGE-1024x683.jpeg)
It’s not an if. It’s a when. That’s how many people in our watersheds approach the idea of the next devastating storm.
In 2018, a category 1 Hurricane Florence made landfall just south of Wrightsville Beach, and in the days that followed, became one of the most devastating hurricanes on the North Carolina record.
Florence delivered up to 30 inches of rain in many places; freshwater flooding due to the torrential rain led to hundreds of people being rescued from homes farther inland; historic storm surge in New Bern and Washington did the same. More than 4,300 eastern North Carolina homes were damaged or destroyed. On the Neuse, Trent and Cape Fear rivers, 46 industrial swine and 35 poultry facilities flooded, sweeping tons of waste into local waterways, and coal ash spilled from the Neuse floodplain.
Just two years prior, Hurricane Matthew delivered similar destruction.
These two, 500-year storms hit North Carolina within a 23-month period.
This is climate change.
A key impact of climate change is more storms, wetter storms — not limited to hurricanes and tropical systems, but everyday storms. Magnified by sea-level rise, flooding from these storms is severely affecting just about every aspect of life. It destroys buildings, homes, land and crops, endangered species and critical habitats; disrupts business operations and economic activity; threatens our roads, resources and energy and water utilities. It results in more water pollution, highlights social inequalities and how difficult it is for rural, lower-income counties to adapt to a greater flooding threat.
And according to North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan, released in 2020, the state should plan for greater extremes in the future. We may not be able to stop the impacts of climate change, but what we can do is be more resilient to them.
Read the 2020 North Carolina Climate Science report on the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality website.
Ways We Can Be Resilient
Wetlands: protecting our wetlands is key to flood mitigation. Where levees and sea walls simply attempt to block incoming floodwater, wetlands naturally decrease destructive wave action, spread water out and ultimately filter the water, removing harmful pollutants.
Living Shorelines: constructing/restoring living shorelines means habitat is restored, our coast is protected from erosion and damage from storms, water quality is improved and recreational opportunities such as fishing, swimming and public access abound.
Swine Buyout Plan: in North Carolina, hogs outnumber people in 30 of our 100 counties, many of which are located in floodplains and on the banks of the rivers and creeks of eastern North Carolina. When it floods, there’s no place for those tens of thousands of hogs and their millions of gallons waste to go — except into the waterways. North Carolina has a Swine Buyout Program, intended to buy out those swine facilities in the floodplain, and the land used for other purposes such as growing crops. It’s a popular program that had 138 applications and a total of 43 facilities bought out until it was effectually halted. How? Funding for the Swine Buyout Program is continually removed from the budget during the North Carolina General Assembly’s budget negotiations.
Watershed restoration plans: Watershed restoration plans are an important element of resiliency. These plans identify pollutant sources and land-use changes in the watershed, and make of list of priorities that will restore habitat and water quality. Stormwater runoff reduction measures installed through watershed plans have been shown to greatly reduce bacteria and sediment in polluted runoff from storms.
Latest News
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Wayne Community College wetland passes first test(s)
January 11th 2024
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ACTION ALERT: NCDEQ permits need OUR input!
October 26th 2023
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Riverkeeper introduced to aerial investigation
October 26th 2023
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Neuse Riverkeeper goes on the record about CAFO pollution
October 19th 2023
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Aerial tour reveals major Neuse pollution threats
October 5th 2023
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Ophelia brings unexpected impacts
September 28th 2023
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Washington gets a stormwater scouting
September 21st 2023
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Sound Rivers team tracks Neuse fish kill
September 14th 2023
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Tour a Sound Rivers constructed wetland with Clay
September 14th 2023
Microplastics
April 5, 2023
Microplastics
![](https://soundrivers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/CONTENT_WATERSHED-ISSUES_MICROPLASTICS-1024x683.jpg)
Plastics end up in our waterways all the time, whether it’s through roadside litter washed into a creek during a hard rain or people using our precious natural resources as convenient dumping grounds. Plastics do break down, and when they do, it’s into microscopic pieces called microplastics.
Less than 5 mm in size, microplastic pollution can only be seen under a microscope. Sometimes they are small fibers, sometimes they are microbeads, other times they are films or flakes. They don’t go away — they just break down into smaller and smaller pieces.
Since they’re so tiny, microplastics can be ingested by and build up in aquatic life, which means we can end up ingesting plastic, too.
Sound Rivers is engaged in a statewide research project to determine how macroplastics end up in our waterways, how they break down into microplastics, impacts on waterways, wildlife and public health and what we can do to prevent this type of pollution.
Part of the project is Sound Rivers’ Riverkeepers and Water-Quality Specialist collecting water samples from local waterways to be boiled down, filtered and viewed under a microscope for the presence of microplastics.
Another part of the projects is Sound Rivers’ three Trash Trouts, or litter-trapping devices, installed on waterways in the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico river basins, that are also informing the “bigger picture” aspect of study: each Trash Trout is monitored and cleaned out regularly, and its contents audited by volunteers to see just where the microplastics are coming from. These Trash Trouts are located on Jack’s Creek in Washington, Duffyfield Canal in New Bern and Little Rock Creek in Raleigh.
Latest News
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Sound Rivers adds to plastic pollution solution
August 1st 2024
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Small cleanup, with a big impact
April 25th 2024
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New trash trap gets adjustment, first cleanout
April 4th 2024
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Trash trap No. 5 makes Greenville debut
March 28th 2024
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Coming soon! Greenville trash trap
March 14th 2024
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Sound Rivers trash traps pass Tropical Storm Idalia test
September 7th 2023
Stormwater Runoff
April 5, 2023
Stormwater Runoff
![](https://soundrivers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/CONTENT_WATERSHED-ISSUES_STORMWATER.jpeg)
When rain falls in a natural setting, almost all stormwater infiltrates the soils and groundwater or is taken up by vegetation. But when land is developed, the impervious cover (roads, rooftops, driveways, parking lots) increases the volume of stormwater that is not absorbed by the land and accelerates the transport of stormwater across the surface of the land. As impervious cover increases, so does the volume and velocity of contaminated surface runoff into streams, lakes and sounds.
Polluted stormwater runoff, including sediment from poorly maintained construction sites, is the number one reason for poor water quality in North Carolina and one of the main causes of pollution in the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico rivers. Sediment can cause severe problems for creeks, rivers and estuaries on which we depend for our drinking water, recreation, wildlife habitat and fishing.
Stormwater pollution results in a multitude of economic losses. Sediment, toxic pollutants and pathogens in stormwater leads to poor quality fish catch and financial losses for the commercial and recreational fishing industries. Contaminated beaches result in medical expenses for treating water-related illness, and the coastal community suffers from losses in sales and services. Stormwater pollution also leads to increased water treatment costs.
When stormwater runoff increases, it can create significant flood damage repair costs and dredging costs, as sediment washed from the land settles in our waterways.
Yet, measures to decrease stormwater impacts can significantly increase property values.
Read about ways you can decrease and/or treat stormwater runoff on your own property on our Protecting Water Quality At Home page!
Learn about Sound Rivers’ green stormwater infrastructure projects at schools across the Tar-Pamlico and Neuse watersheds here.
Latest News
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Riverkeeper spurs inspection, landfill found in violation
August 15th 2024
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TS Debby prompts trash-trap pro-activity
August 8th 2024
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Kinston, Raleigh trash traps get some TLC
August 1st 2024
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Rain ramps up trash-trap cleanouts
July 25th 2024
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Riverkeeper, intern take on emergency trash trap cleanout
July 25th 2024
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Tar-Pam Riverkeeper investigates Cub Creek turbidity
July 25th 2024
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Heavy rains lead to sky-high turbidity on Lick Creek
July 25th 2024
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Greenville’s trash trap gets emergency cleanout
July 18th 2024
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Tarboro approves trash trap No. 6
July 11th 2024
Sanitary Sewer Overflows
March 29, 2023
Sanitary Sewer Overflows
![](https://soundrivers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/CONTENT_WATERSHED-ISSUES_SSO.jpeg)
Sanitary sewer systems collect and transport domestic, commercial and industrial wastewater, as well as limited amounts of stormwater and infiltrated ground water to treatment facilities for appropriate treatment.
Occasionally, sanitary sewers will spill raw sewage. These types of spills are called sanitary sewer overflows. SSOs can contaminate our waterways, causing serious water-quality problems and back up into homes, causing property damage and threatening public health.
How? Well, raw sewage carries bacteria, viruses, parasitic organisms, intestinal worms, molds and fungi. As a result, it can cause diseases ranging in severity from mild gastroenteritis (causing stomach cramps and diarrhea) to life-threatening ailments such as cholera, dysentery, infections hepatitis and severe gastroenteritis, according to the EPA website.
In the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds, the main cause of SSOs is predominantly stormwater and/or groundwater overloading a system during tropical weather events, or even a hard rain. Aging sewer infrastructure and new development creating an additional burden on already insufficient infrastructure also contribute to our SSOs. When you have many municipalities, and municipal sewer systems, along the banks of your rivers, the chance that something will go wrong — a pump breaks, a blockage occurs — increases exponentially, as does the chance pollution will pour into our waterways, thousands of gallons at a time.
All that bad stuff entering our rivers, lakes, streams or brackish waters can impact water quality — and not for the better. If we can’t use waterbodies for drinking water, shellfish harvesting, fishing or recreation, that’s a loss: SSOs can close beaches; tourism and waterfront home values may fall; fishing and shellfish harvesting may be restricted or halted.
So how can SSOs be reduced or eliminated?
Investment. According to the EPA, our nation’s sewers are worth a total of more than $1 trillion. Sewer rehabilitation to reduce or eliminate SSOs can be expensive, but the cost must be weighed against the value of the collection system asset and the added costs if this asset is allowed to further deteriorate. Ongoing maintenance and rehabilitation add value to the original investment by maintaining the system’s capacity and extending its life.
What can we do to reduce SSOs? Don’t pour fats, oils or grease down the sink, and don’t flush household items such as baby wipes, facial wipes, sanitary pads and tampons down the toilet—all can contribute to blockages in the system.
Let’s not forget about septic systems, too. If not installed and maintained properly, a septic system can contaminate surface and/or groundwater. If you have a septic system, learn how you can protect local surface water here.
Latest News
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Sound Rivers staff investigating Smithfield sewage issue
August 29th 2024
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TS Debby sewage spills in Rocky Mount climbs to 14
August 22nd 2024
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Sewage the subject of Riverkeeper presentation
August 22nd 2024
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Storm spurs slate of sewage spills
August 15th 2024
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Riverkeeper monitoring Rocky Mount spill site, pre- and post-Debby
August 8th 2024
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Riverkeeper tracking Rocky Mount sewage spills
August 1st 2024
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Havelock experiences largest spill yet
March 7th 2024
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Riverkeeper tracks Rocky Mount spill site
March 7th 2024
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