File:Image from page 188 of "Coast watch" (1979) (20667230971).jpg

Title: Coast watch Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_13 Year: 1979 (1970s) Authors: UNC Sea Grant College Program Subjects: Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology Publisher: [Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program] Contributing Library: State Library of North Carolina Digitizing Sponsor: North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

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Text Appearing Before Image: LEGAL TIDES

Text Appearing After Image: Water, Water Everywhere rater, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. Or, so the saying goes. To make certain that won't be the case in North Carolina, legislators, experts from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, along with municipal water system operators and university scientists have spent more than a decade studying future water supply demands across the state. In 1989 the General Assembly mandated a state and local water planning process to address major supply issues — and solutions. The effort coalesced in January 2000 in the first draft of The State Water Supply Plan — the first document of its kind in North Carolina. The nonregulatory plan, based on local water supply assessments, is expected to be finalized in December. Walter Clark, Sea Grant legal and policy specialist, says, "Long-range planning is critical in today's world of expanding growth. If we hope to protect By Pant Smith our natural resources, including water and open space, we must be proactive now. It will be difficult — if not impossible — to recover these vital resources once they are gone." Nowhere in the state is water supply more critical than in the central coastal plain, where studies by the N.C. Division of Water Resources (DWR) indicate alarming declines in groundwater sources, especially the Upper Cape Fear and Black Creek aquifers. As a remedy, the agency recom- mends establishing a Central Coastal Plain Capacity Use Area for the 15-county region, which includes fast-growing Pitt, Lenoir, Craven and Onslow counties. Capacity-use rules require those who take more than 100,000 gallons a day to apply for a special use permit and report water use rates to the state. Municipal water systems in the region use dozens of deep wells to tap into the aquifers — layers of sand saturated with water and sealed in layers of clay. Dewater- ing of aquifers can permanently reduce an aquifer's water storage capacity; result in the encroachment of salt water into fresh water portions of the aquifers; and contribute to sinkholes and depressed land areas. To protect these aquifers and the dependability of supply, water withdrawals from the Upper Cape Fear and Black Creek aquifers have to be reduced. Under the proposed Central Coastal Plain Capacity Use Area Rules, some cities and other water users would be required to reduce withdraw- als from these aquifers up to 75 percent over the next 16 years. But before implementation, the proposed capacity-use rules first will be subject to rigorous review, beginning with the Environmental Management Commis- sion in December. The rules also will be studied by a state legislative subcommittee for placement on the 2002 General Assem- bly agenda. If approved, the central coastal plain rules could be implemented by summer of 2002. Continued COASTWATCH 21

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