Tag: NCDEQ
In-Kind Support
April 7, 2022
In-Kind Support
Support Clean Water With Your Equipment or Silent Auction Gift
Sound Rivers accepts a variety of in-kind donations!
Our current organization-wide needs include:
- Boats of all types
- PFDs, paddles, other paddling supplies
Sound Rivers is also collecting items for our Oyster Roast Silent Auction in November 2020!
Some examples of popular donated items include:
- Visual art (paintings, framed nature photographs, etc.)
- Services (spa packages, etc.)
- Vacation Packages (from a one-night stay to a week-long rental!)
- River Related Activities and Entertainment (river cruises, fishing trips, etc.)
- And more!
Have something to contribute? Contact us with this form – please describe your item in the comments – and we’ll get back to you asap! Any donated items are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.
Oyster Roast Attendee FAQs
April 7, 2022
Oyster Roast Attendee FAQs
We’ve gathered some FAQs from the three decades of Oyster Roasts! If you have a question, check below, we may have an answer! Don’t see your question answered here? Email info@soundrivers.org or call 252-946-7211!
Entry (General Admission Tickets) FAQ’s and Info
- Doors open at 6pm, not before
- Check-in is located in the Civic Center, south entrance (signs will be posted)
- Reservation list with names, no tickets are required. If your name isn’t on the list, check in under the name of the person who purchased your tickets.
- A wrist band and beer cup will be provided
- We will be checking IDs so please have yours out and ready
General FAQs
- There are plenty of oysters- no one will leave hungry- we promise! If you’re having trouble finding space for your group, just enjoy a beer, eat some chili or chowder (located in the dance hall) and return to the tables in a little while.
- Oyster knives are made available to everyone; located outside on the oyster tables. You can bring your own if you’d like.
- Melted butter and sauce are located near the oyster tables; served by our amazing volunteers. Please know that, due to the cold night, the butter will be provided in smaller amounts to avoid waste. You can certainly return for seconds if needed.
- Three breweries are located outside near the oyster tables. All the beer has been donated- we are grateful for our partnership with these great local breweries!
- Sodas and water are available inside; large coolers in the dance hall
- Chili and Chowder are provided inside, in the dance hall.
- Oyster Tables, except for sponsors, are first-come, first-serve.
- This event is a “come as you are” event. Casual, dressed up– whatever you feel like, we just want you to stay warm, have fun, and enjoy the evening.
- If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask a staff member or volunteer. We want you to have a great time.
Silent Auction
- Silent Auction bidding
We’ve gathered some FAQs from the three decades of Oyster Roasts! If you have a question, check below, we may have an answer! Don’t see your question answered here? Email info@soundrivers.org or call 252-946-7211!
Entry (General Admission Tickets) FAQ’s and Info
- Doors open at 6pm, not before
- Check-in is located in the Civic Center, south entrance (signs will be posted)
- Reservation list with names, no tickets are required. If your name isn’t on the list, check in under the name of the person who purchased your tickets.
- A wrist band and beer cup will be provided
- We will be checking IDs so please have yours out and ready
General FAQs
- There are plenty of oysters- no one will leave hungry- we promise! If you’re having trouble finding space for your group, just enjoy a beer, eat some chili or chowder (located in the dance hall) and return to the tables in a little while.
- Oyster knives are made available to everyone; located outside on the oyster tables. You can bring your own if you’d like.
- Melted butter and sauce are located near the oyster tables; served by our amazing volunteers. Please know that, due to the cold night, the butter will be provided in smaller amounts to avoid waste. You can certainly return for seconds if needed.
- Three breweries are located outside near the oyster tables. All the beer has been donated- we are grateful for our partnership with these great local breweries!
- Sodas and water are available inside; large coolers in the dance hall
- Chili and Chowder are provided inside, in the dance hall.
- Oyster Tables, except for sponsors, are first-come, first-serve.
- This event is a “come as you are” event. Casual, dressed up– whatever you feel like, we just want you to stay warm, have fun, and enjoy the evening.
- If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask a staff member or volunteer. We want you to have a great time.
Silent Auction
- Silent Auction bidding happens throughout the night – if you have questions about an item, a volunteer or staff member is available to help
- Bidding closes at 9pm – please give us several moments to organize before coming to claim your item
- It helps Sound Rivers’ staff immensely if you’re able to take your item home that night!
- All Silent Auction proceeds benefit your Riverkeepers, so please bid generously, and have fun!
Sponsor FAQs and Info
- Doors open at 6pm
- We have a separate check-in table for our sponsors and guests located inside the Civic Center (south entrance)
- No tickets required
- For sponsorships with reserved oyster and inside tables, look for the “Reserved” signs printed with your logos.
- Wine will be provided this year for our sponsors at reserved tables
VIP FAQs and Info
- Doors open for our VIPs at 5pm
- Check-in is outdoors at the oyster tables where you will receive your VIP gift bag
- Access to VIP lounge during the evening, located in a classroom along the civic center hallway. Wine and sweets will be available throughout the evening for our VIPs. (Keep your VIP lanyard on so you can easily enter the lounge.)
- happens throughout the night – if you have questions about an item, a volunteer or staff member is available to help
- Bidding closes at 9pm – please give us several moments to organize before coming to claim your item
- It helps Sound Rivers’ staff immensely if you’re able to take your item home that night!
- All Silent Auction proceeds benefit your Riverkeepers, so please bid generously, and have fun!
Sponsor FAQs and Info
- Doors open at 6pm
- We have a separate check-in table for our sponsors and guests located inside the Civic Center (south entrance)
- No tickets required
- For sponsorships with reserved oyster and inside tables, look for the “Reserved” signs printed with your logos.
- Wine will be provided this year for our sponsors at reserved tables
VIP FAQs and Info
- Doors open for our VIPs at 5pm
- Check-in is outdoors at the oyster tables where you will receive your VIP gift bag
- Access to VIP lounge during the evening, located in a classroom along the civic center hallway. Wine and sweets will be available throughout the evening for our VIPs. (Keep your VIP lanyard on so you can easily enter the lounge.)
Donate
April 7, 2022
Donate
All gifts – of any amount – will help us fight for your rivers! Thank you!
Your donations to Sound Rivers support our work to protect and preserve the beauty and health of the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico rivers and provide critical funding for programs like Swim Guide (keeping you in the know about your water quality), advocacy (working with North Carolina leaders to create stronger protections for your clean water), environmental programs (implementing innovating solutions to pollution and increasing public access to your rivers), and more.
Thank you — your support keeps your water clean!
Would you like to make a memorial gift, or a gift in honor of a loved one? Click “Make a Special Contribution” above, and when checking out you can enter their name, and who should be notified of the gift. Questions? Please contact info@soundrivers.org for assistance.
Thank you for your help protecting your rivers! If you would prefer to send a check, please mail your gift to: Sound Rivers, PO Box 1854, Washington, NC 27889
*Please note the donation forms above will not work with Internet Explorer, but these forms will work on Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla, or Safari.
Gift the Gift of Clean Water
Looking for the perfect gift? Gift a Sound Rivers membership to your loved one! Your gift recipient will:
- Receive a card letting them know you made a gift of clean water in their name, and a Sound Rivers sticker
- Begin receiving our quarterly newsletter, Currents
- Be recognized by name in our Annual Report.
Use the link below to make a special gift membership!
Please note: Fill out the first part of the contact information on the form with YOUR contact information to ensure proper credit card processing, and the enter your gift recipient’s information below in the fields indicated. If you would like to remain anonymous (and not let the gift recipient know you are the giver) please indicate that in the “comments” field.
Other ways to support clean water:
Swim Guide
April 7, 2022
Swim Guide
Get your weekly water quality alerts here!
swim guide here
Want to get weekly water quality alerts straight to your phone? Text “SWIM” to 833-686-5322!
EN ESPAÑOL
Sound Rivers’ Neuse and Pamlico-Tar Riverkeepers work with interns and volunteers to monitor water quality sites in the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds. Our sites are sampled weekly from late May through the end of August. Sites are monitored for E. coli bacteria in freshwater and enterococci bacteria in salt water.
As soon as results of our monitoring are available they will be posted to here, can be found at the Swim Guide website, using the smartphone app, on our Facebook page, and will be announced on Public Radio East between 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. each Friday. You can also get weekly alerts during the summer via text (text SWIM to 833-686-5322 to join our text alert list).
CONDITIONS ON
Aug. 30, 2024
It’s a wrap for the 2024 Swim Guide season!
The 2025 season of weekly water-quality testing will start up again Memorial Day weekend of 2025. Until then, we’ll be delivering results from select sites across the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico on a monthly basis. Keep checking back!
UPPER NEUSE
All sites passed this week. Launches at Beaver Dam, Barton Creek boat ramp, Poole Road and the Neuse Golf Club in Clayton were not tested this week.
LOWER NEUSE
Two sites failed this week: Upper Broad Creek at Black Beard Sailing Club and Slocum Creek in Havelock.
Spring Garden boat ramp and Rice Creek off the Bay River was not tested this week.
TAR-PAMLICO
One site failed this week: Cotton Patch Landing on Blounts Creek.
Bonner’s Point and Plum Point in Bath and Wright’s Creek in Belhaven were not tested this week.
Get Swim Guide Results
Swim Guide volunteers sample each site on Thursdays throughout the summer and results are available by Friday afternoon. They will be posted to this page, can be found at the Swim Guide website, using the app, on our Facebook page, and will be announced on Public Radio East between 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. each Friday. You can also get the results via weekly text alerts during the summer — just text SWIM to 833-686-5322 to join our text alert list!
Like the Swim Guide? Donate here to help keep the Swim Guide alive!
Water Quality Criteria
Sound Rivers uses the North Carolina and EPA water-quality criteria for contact recreation. Sites are marked green when the last sample was at healthy levels of bacteria. Sites are marked red when the last sample was above the criteria, or unhealthy levels of bacteria. Sites are marked grey when there are no current results or there is no available information.
E. coli is a type of bacteria found in the intestines of people and other animals, and is a good indicator of recent fecal contamination. While most types of these bacteria are harmless, some types can make us sick or cause more severe gastrointestinal issues in more sensitive groups.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries Recreational Water Quality Program does additional testing in the region. Those results are also incorporated into the sites listed on the Swim Guide website and app.
Thanks so much to our Sponsors, who are helping us bring you
the Summer of 2024 Swim Guide!
Protection
April 7, 2022
Protection
On a daily basis, our two Riverkeepers monitor the health of the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds and ecosystems. We serve as investigators, advocates and educators who partner with conservationists and concerned citizens to be hands-on activists protecting the health and beauty of our natural resources.
One of North Carolina’s Original Conservation Groups
Our staff has decades of experience in advocacy roles for the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico Rivers. The organization was founded by concerned citizens like you who care about the health and beauty of our waterways. We’ve been protecting our cherished rivers since 1980.
Our Riverkeepers monitor the health of the rivers and ecosystems in our communities. We investigate polluters, advocate for enforcement of existing laws, and demonstrate conservation techniques that protect the health of our natural resources.
The Dangers of Polluters Run Amuck
Sound Rivers often has to use strategic action to stop pollution and promote policies that will protect infograph_defend_sound-rivers_022616the rivers and watersheds. Too often the local, state and federal government agencies charged with enforcing our environmental laws are unable or unwilling to take critical enforcement actions, often because of lack of adequate resources or the potential for political or legal backlash.
As much as possible, we prefer to resolve matters through negotiation and cooperation without resorting to litigation. Typically, we’re able to resolve problems through communication. Our establish working relationships with industry, government and civic groups enables Sound Rivers to serve as a resource for water quality and environmental issues. We’re not only the voice for our rivers, but an ally to protect and restore our waterways.
Contact Us
April 7, 2022
Contact Us
Get In Touch With Us
Sign Up For eNews
Locations
WASHINGTON (OFFICE)
108 Gladden St.
Washington, NC 27889
252.946.7211
WASHINGTON (MAILING)
PO Box 1854
Washington, NC 27889
NEW BERN
2207 Trent Road
New Bern, NC 28560
252.637.7972
RALEIGH
19 Hargett St.
Raleigh, NC 27601
919.856.1180
Recreation
April 7, 2022
Recreation
On The Water
Sound Rivers represents the interests of its thousands of members, as well as everyone who recognizes the waterways of eastern North Carolina as the amazing assets they are. We care about the future of our rivers, streams and waterways because they sustain us humans and the nature we so enjoy.
They also support plenty of opportunities for recreation. From the Piedmont to the Pamlico Sound, here are some of the ways you can enjoy your rivers.
Wildlife Resources Commission
Explore our state’s beautiful wildlife and map out the best boat ramp locations for your next trip. The Wildlife Resources Commission is a wonderful place to begin researching your next journey.
Mountain-to-Sea Trail Guide
Explore how the Mountain-to-Sea Trail intersects with the Neuse River. Use these links to plan your next hiking adventure along our favorite rivers. The Mountain-to-Sea Trial Guide is a great resource, or you can also enjoy our convenient paddle map of the Neuse.
Tar-Pamlico Water Trail
Learn all about the hiking, campsites, camping platforms and fun activities in North Carolina’s Tar-Pamlico basin. The Tar-Pamlico Water Trail website is wealth of information. Owned and operated by Sound Rivers, these camping platforms provide overnight facilities to recreational users on the river (cost is $20 per night).
The goal is to build a continuous system of platforms approximately 8 to 15 miles apart, spanning from the headwaters of the Tar River in Granville County to the wide-open, estuarine waters of the Pamlico River in Beaufort, Hyde and Pamlico counties.
The platforms are open to the public. You can choose to sleep under the stars or in a screened-in enclosure along the scenic Tar River in the central and eastern part of the state. Enjoy white-water paddling in the headwaters and sea kayaking along the Inner Banks.
Recreational paddlers, boaters and fishermen are welcome to use the facilities year-round, though use is by permit only. All you need to do is reserve your spot.
Just want to take a walk along on the water? Sit a spell and watch the wildlife? Here’s a few places you can enjoy your waterways from land:
In the Tar-Pamlico watershed: Joyner Park, Louisburg; River Bend Park, Louisburg; Battle Park, Rocky Mount; Bridge Tar River Trail, Rocky Mount; Riverfront Park, Tarboro; Town Common/Tar River Greenway, Greenville; Wildwood Park, Greenville; Festival Park/boardwalk, Washington; Havens Gardens Park, Washington; Goose Creek State Park, Washington; Belhaven Beach, Belhaven; Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge, Hyde County.
In the Neuse watershed: Little River Park, Zebulon; Wake County — Rolling View State Recreation Area, Falls Lake State Recreation Area, Beaverdam Lake State Recreation Area, Holly Point Campground State Recreation Area, Shinleaf Campground State Recreation Area, Blue Jay Point County Park, Forest Ridge Park, Falls Lake Dam Recreation Area; Neuse River Greenway; River Bend Park, Horseshoe Farm Nature Preserve; Milburnie Park; Anderson Point Park; Capital Area Greenway, Robertson Mill Pond Preserve and Mitchell Mill State Natural Area, Little River Park; Clayton Riverwalk on the Neuse Greenway, Clayton; Smithfield Town Commons;
Old Waynesboro Park, Goldsboro; Cliffs of the Neuse State Park, Seven Springs; Neuseway Nature Park, Kinston; Glenburnie Park, New Bern; Town of Bridgeton Park, Bridgeton; Union Point Park, New Bern; Lawson Creek Park, New Bern; John Bond Town Beach, Oriental; Lou Mac Park, Oriental.
Restoration
April 7, 2022
Restoration
Landscaping for Water Quality
When rain falls in a natural setting, it’s naturally filtered — through soils and groundwater or soaked up by vegetation. When land is developed, however, impervious surfaces (roads, rooftops, driveways, parking lots) prevent that filtering, which can lead to erosion in some places, flooding in others, and does lead to rainwater full of pollutants — suspended solids, nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), heavy metals, toxic organic pollutants and petroleum compounds — running directly into your waterways.
To deal with the increased problems from polluted stormwater runoff, Sound Rivers began a restoration program of on-the-ground projects to restore water quality in 2010. Since — courtesy of the state Environmental Enhancement Grant Program — we’ve partnered with many grade schools and community colleges across the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds to resolve their stormwater runoff issues in a variety of ways.
Rain Gardens
Rain gardens are landscaped depressions that collect stormwater runoff, then allow the runoff to slowly infiltrate to the ground-water table. A rain garden cuts down on localized flooding and allows nature to remove some of the pollutants otherwise affecting downstream water quality. During infiltration, plants use excess nutrients for growth, sediment is trapped in the garden and biological and physical processes remove pollution. Rain gardens also create important habitat for bees, butterflies, birds and other wildlife.
Constructed Wetlands
A constructed wetland is exactly what it sounds like: a manmade wetland that mimics the processes of the natural kind. Constructed wetlands collect and temporarily store stormwater runoff, reducing and stabilizing flow to adjacent natural wetlands and streams.
The bonus is — just like with natural wetlands — sediment settles and multiple pollutants are taken up and transformed by wetland plants and microbes, which reduces the number of pollutants entering your groundwater and waterways.
Rainwater Harvesters
A rainwater harvester is a fancy name for “a tank collecting rain from a rooftop.” One of the impervious surfaces we don’t often think of is, quite literally, above our heads. During a hard rain, rooftops can sluice off tens of thousands of gallons of water, but a rainwater harvester collects that runoff which then becomes a non-potable water source to be used for a variety of purposes, including irrigation of vegetables in raised beds (West Craven High School) and watering a football field (Epiphany School).
Latest News
Greenhouse gets watering system via cistern
November 7th 2024
Ground broken for Vance-Granville’s new rain garden
October 24th 2024
Board gets stormwater tour
September 26th 2024
Jack’s Creek shoreline repair a move toward resiliency
September 5th 2024
Greenhouse rainwater harvester on the move
August 15th 2024
Severe erosion fix in the works for Vance-Granville
July 11th 2024
Sound Rivers staff meets up for campus stormwater tour
May 9th 2024
Position available: Stormwater Education Coordinator
April 18th 2024
