After three years and thousands of comments from Environment North Carolina members, the Environmental Management Commission voted to designate the Horsepasture River an Outstanding Resource Water on May 15th. 

The designation is the state's highest clean water standard, and will protect the Horsepasture River for future generations by limiting discharge into the river and creating vegetative buffers.

For more details on the protections, click here.  

Send an email to regulators to thank them for protecting the Horsepasture River.

No matter where you are in North Carolina, you don't have to travel far to enjoy some of the nation's last, great rivers and streams, from the whitewater rapids of the mountains to the peaceful sounds of the coast.

But out-of-control development has put even the most pristine of these waters at risk. Twenty years ago, just over 2 million acres of North Carolina’s land was developed. Today, that number has nearly doubled, much of it close to our rivers. More paved surfaces carry polluted runoff (oil, dirt, fertilizer, and other pollutants) straight into our waterways.  And more development means more sewage, increasing pollution into our rivers, lakes and streams.

Environment North Carolina is working to protect the state's last, unspoiled waters in the face of unplanned growth.

More.