News

Sometimes, Riverkeepers just happen to be in the right place at the right time.

This was the case last week when Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop and water-quality intern Samantha Lewis met up with Smithfield and Johnston County officials for a day of trash trap location scouting.

They did find a potential site, but what they also found was clear evidence of sediment pollution in Buffalo Creek, which runs right through the heart of Smithfield.

“I took one look at it, and I knew exactly what was going on — it was flowing with suspended sediment that was the telltale color of construction runoff in this part of the watershed,” said Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop. “So, I asked the people from the town, ‘What’s going on with this creek?’ and asked if there was construction going on near that location.”

Samantha said town officials were very responsive, and followed up by visiting several upstream locations on the creek and checking numerous construction sites.

“They listened to my concerns and immediately started brainstorming where it could be coming from,” Samantha said. “They later found out it was the Local 70 development that was responsible for all of that runoff, which is located over two miles upstream from where we were standing — that’s pretty far.” 

Samantha said she was impressed with how quickly town officials reacted to her concerns about the pollution.

“The fact that they don’t have a team to do this, they responded quickly and went out, found the site, went to the site and had a conversation with the developer,” she said. “They did a good job identifying the source, and they proactively went to the developer about solutions. This is the relationship that we seek to have with municipalities around water-pollution investigations and solutions.”

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