I’ll try to be fair here: One reason why the N&R hasn’t covered the Jordan Lake Rules in recent weeks may be because the City of Greensboro, in spite of water resources director Allan Williams’ remarks, just doesn’t seem that worked up about it. Then again, maybe the city is, and we’re just not hearing about it.
At any rate, the City of Burlington has taken the lead:
Burlington’s city council is also the only regional city to have hosted a session with members of the N.C. Division of Water Quality, the organization that wrote the rules, in which strict measures to reduce nutrients flowing into Jordan Lake were called into question.
And speaker after speaker at Tuesday’s Piedmont Triad Council of Governments meeting deferred to Burlington Utilities Director Steve Shoaf’s knowledge of water systems and the science behind the rules.
Read the costs for compliance. If I’m reading the numbers right, it’ll cost local governments a total of $300 million to meet the new rules, which (again, if I’m reading the numbers right) are very stringent:
Larger waste water plants in Reidsville, Burlington, Graham, Greensboro, Pittsboro and Mebane will have to update facilities to reduce phosphorous discharge to less than .67 milligrams per liter and nitrogen discharge to less than 5 milligrams per liter. The current rate is 2 milligrams per liter of phosphorous and less than 20 milligrams per liter of nitrogen.
