News

We’re celebrating 2025 with a rundown of our top 10 stories of 2024! It’s been an eventful year for Sound Rivers. Growth, resolution of investigations, new staff, new partnerships — read on for the highlights of a whirlwind 2024!

In 2024, Sound Rivers staff and supporters donned waders and water shoes to venture into the heart of Sound Rivers’ work — the waterways. Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop hosted a Lick Creek Walk to explore sediment pollution in southeast Durham; a Wetland Walk at the Croatan National Forest; a creek walk at the site of Moriah Energy Center to look at the effects on previously clear-running streams; and an Ellerbe Creek Wetland Walk to witness wetlands surrounded by an urban environment. Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman also joined in with a creek walk of Greens Mill Run in October.

“It’s a great way to get people in touch with nature surrounding them, and give them a firsthand look at how these waterways are threatened every day,” Samantha said.

SOUND RIVERS-CUMMINS PARTNERSHIP

Sound Rivers and Cummins Rocky Mount Engine Plant teamed up this year to promote a healthy Tar River. The partnership began with the company seeking opportunities for its employees to care for and enjoy their environment. Since October 2023, Cummins employees and Sound Rivers staff have joined forces for cleanups of Tar River via the land and water. In 2024, a $200,000 Cummins Water Works grant sponsored Sound Rivers’ Swim Guide, the construction of green stormwater infrastructure at Nash County public schools and the installation of a trash trap on East Tarboro Canal in Tarboro.

“The expansion to a larger strategic grant was natural, due to the positive relationship our employees had with the organization and the great work the organization does for the community,” said Scott Saum, Cummins Water Works program manager.

HAVELOCK WATER QUALITY TOWN HALL

Sound Rivers and the Town of Havelock teamed up in February to host “Water Quality and Recreation at Slocum Creek,” an open-invitation event for Havelock residents. Approximately 80 people attended the town hall, in which Havelock Mayor Will Lewis and Public Utilities Director Rick Day talked about the town’s sewage spills and efforts the city has made to update its sewer system. Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop also spoke about the separate issue of Sound Rivers’ investigation into the ongoing pollution of Slocum Creek — how it was discovered through Swim Guide results and its source in Wolf Pit Branch narrowed down through process of elimination. Samantha said having both the town and Craven County work with Sound Rivers to determine the source of the pollution has set an example of cooperation and teamwork that she hopes other local governments will follow.

Sound Rivers joined the podcasting trend this year, launching “Sound Rivers: Riverkeeping Tales from the Neuse & Tar-Pamlico” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and soundrivers.org. Hosted by Communications Director Vail Rumley, the podcast’s inaugural episode tackled “The Story of Blounts Creek” and the 13-year battle to protect the creek from a mining company. This was followed by “To Swim, Drink, Fish,” a deep dive into Swim Guide’s origins and how the recreational water-quality program has informed Sound Rivers investigations, and “Muddied Waters,” featuring Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop taking a hard look at sediment pollution across the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico. Next up is “Investigation — Sound Rivers” with Water Quality Specialist Taylor Register, who leads listeners on a behind-the-scenes look at pollution investigations. Be on the lookout for it! Listen to all podcasts HERE!

MORIAH ENERGY CENTER

In late 2023, Person County approved the construction of Dominion Energy’s Moriah Energy Center, a liquified natural gas facility, despite major opposition. By spring, once-clear creeks running through the 70 acres of clearcut land were muddied. Sediment was pouring into these tributaries of Deep Creek and Flat River, home to the endangered Neuse Waterdog and several species of mussels. Concerned community members, along with Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop, attended a Dominion open house to get answers, and walked away with none. In May, a site visit prompted by ongoing pollution reports from Samantha and community partners prompted an NCDEQ visit, which led to the agency warning Dominion to strengthen its sediment and erosion controls. Samantha continues to monitor and report her findings to NCDEQ.

SWIM GUIDE

For a seventh year, Sound Rivers’ volunteers and three summer “Swim-terns,” with guidance from Volunteer Coordinator Emily Fritz, gave river lovers water-quality results they could count on. From Memorial Day until Labor Day, Sound Rivers’ Swim Guide program participants tested more than 650 water samples from 52 popular recreational sites on the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico, delivering them every Friday — all so people could know where it’s safe to swim, from the Piedmont to the Pamlico Sound. Sites that consistently failed to meet recreational water-quality standards prompted two investigations: at Runyon Creek in Washington and Cotton Patch Landing on Blounts Creek. Swim Guide also kept Sound Rivers’ data current on the Slocum Creek investigation, where a 100% fail rate proved the Havelock creek’s pollution is worsening.

Under the guidance of Program Director Clay Barber, Sound Rivers’ stormwater programs took off in 2024. In addition to mapping out the Jack’s Creek Watershed Restoration Plan with the City of Washington, the Campus Stormwater program expanded to include a slew of new projects to mitigate flooding, erosion and pollutants entering waterways from school campuses across the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds. Projects included a rainwater harvesting cistern at Havelock High School; a rain garden, regenerative stormwater conveyance system (RSC) and wetland inlet pipe repair at Vance-Granville Community College; a rain garden and rainwater harvesting cistern at Southern Nash High School; and two rain gardens, a bioswale and naturalized wetlands at Northern Nash High School.

In addition to the on-the-ground work building green stormwater infrastructure, Sound Rivers also welcomed Resilience Corps NC AmeriCorps member Sierra Stickney as our new stormwater education coordinator. Since her arrival, Sierra has assisted Clay with Campus Stormwater projects, determining protocols for proper maintenance and inspection of these projects, and hosted a workshop with Craven County schools to devise outreach opportunities for hands-on learning at partnering schools. In partnership with West Craven Middle School, Sierra held the first Stormwater Education Week for agricultural students in December. In addition to all-things-stormwater, Sierra has also pitched in, and waded in, for Sound Rivers’ growing Litter-Free Rivers program. Sierra came to Sound Rivers via the Conservation Trust for North Carolina, funded through the North Carolina Governor’s Commission on Volunteerism.

LITTER-FREE RIVERS GROWS!

In a single year, Sound Rivers doubled its fleet of trash traps across the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds. Following previous installations on Jack’s Creek in Washington, Duffyfield Canal in New Bern, Little Rock Creek in Raleigh and Adkin Branch in Kinston, in 2024, two more passive litter-collection devices were installed on Greens Mill Run in Greenville and East Tarboro Canal in Tarboro. An additional three traps went to Marsh Creek and its tributaries in Raleigh as part of partnership between Sound Rivers, N.C. State University and The Great Raleigh Cleanup.

More than three tons of trash has been collected and removed from the Litter-Free Rivers program’s fleet of traps — before it could make its way downstream from these urban tributaries to the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico rivers.

BLOUNTS CREEK PUBLIC HEARING

On Nov. 19, a large crowd of Blounts Creek-lovers attended a public hearing to speak out against the renewal of a mining company’s wastewater discharge permit — a permit that could potentially destroy the creek’s entire ecosystem. That the public hearing happened at all is testament to how strongly residents feel about protecting the creek and Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman’s efforts to inspire folks to make their voices heard about 12 million gallons of freshwater per day being dumped into the headwaters of the brackish creek. After launching an Action Alert, presenting information at community meeting and hosting a postcard-writing campaign, enough public interest was conveyed to North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to require a public hearing. Now, everyone awaits the NCDEQ decision about issuing the permit.

Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop, Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman and Water Quality Specialist Taylor Register completed more than 100 investigations on the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico in 2024. Tips, monitoring and being out in the field were sources for these pollution investigations with outcomes that ranged from simple (alerting NCDEQ to a sediment dump in Mine Creek, resulting in a cleanup and a fine for the entity responsible) to more in-depth investigations identifying the problem while resolution remains elusive (Rocky Mount sewage spills caused by failing infrastructure with no immediate plan for a fix and the elusive source of pollution at Smithfield stormwater outfall).

Whether open and shut or ongoing, the Sound Rivers’ Riverkeeping team is committed to each case until the issue is resolved and the pollution stops.

Want to see this work continue? Make an End-of-Year donation today to ensure your Riverkeeping team’s investigations, advocacy and outreach, Campus Stormwater and Litter-Free Rivers programs keep going strong in the new year!

We’re looking forward to another eventful year in 2025! From Sound Rivers staff, Happy New Year!