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Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop was in Wake Forest this week, celebrating World Water Day with residents of the Del Webb Active Adult Community in Wake Forest.

The community hosts experts on a variety of topics as part of their regular programming.

“I presented the work we do, the issues the Neuse faces, as well as all of the benefits our waterways provide us, as a tie-in to World Water Day,” Samantha said. “They had some great questions, and we had some good communication about one issue in particular.”

That issue was development and the problems it poses to water quality.

“A lot of folks who attended had interest in natural resources, development and land-use planning because Wake Forest is growing rapidly — development is visible all around them,” Samantha said. “They’re in the center of huge change in development, and so much of the sprawl happening in the triangle is happening in Wake Forest.”

Many of the questions she fielded from her audience centered around how residents could get involved.

“There were definitely questions about how community members can get involved in land-use planning, how the public input process works and asking about ways to ensure that the creation of housing comes with water-quality protections,” she said.

Since Samantha joined Sound Rivers as Neuse Riverkeeper in 2022, she’s tracked the impact of development on imperiled waterways in the Triangle.

“They’re also right there in the Falls Lake area, and a lot of impact we’re seeing is in the Falls Lake watershed,” she said.

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