News

Sound Rivers, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and the Town of Smithfield are teaming up to put a stop to pollution.

Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop and Water Quality Specialist Taylor Register have been part of ongoing talks to determine the source of pollution pouring into the Neuse River from a stormwater outfall.

“We’ve had a very productive series of meetings with DEQ and Town of Smithfield representatives,” Samantha said. “DEQ has done a round of (water-quality) sampling at numerous sites, and we are awaiting those results. Meanwhile, Smithfield is updating their infrastructure maps so they can figure out where problems may be occurring.”

The pollution problem came to light when Samantha and Program Director Clay Barber paid a visit to Smithfield in search of good spot for a trash trap installation. When they came across a stormwater outfall and the smell of sewage, Sound Rivers alerted city officials and returned to take water samples to test for bacteria. When those samples failed to meet water-quality standards, the Riverkeeping team reached out to NCDEQ.

“The whole reason we’re doing this is because there was discharge coming out of this outfall that far exceeded the EPA’s health standard for E. coli,” Samantha said. “That is not allowed under the Clean Water Act.”

Though the town, using smoke and dye tests, initially found no issue with its sewer/stormwater system, they’ve agreed to do the same type of testing more broadly.

“We’ll be partnering in the New Year. We’ll be doing sampling; the city will be doing smoke and dye tests higher up in the system, where they have not done them before,” Samantha said. “We appreciate that the city and the state are taking this seriously.”

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