High Quality Waters (HQW) and Outstanding Resources Waters (ORW) designations protect water quality by placing restrictions on what can be discharged into a waterway and what activities can take place near the waterway.
HQW and ORW both place limitations on allowable development activities. Both have a low density option limiting development to one dwelling unit per acre or 12 percent built upon area. They do not contain high-density limitations but require controls for stormwater runoff from the first one inch of rainfall. They also require stream buffers for low density for projects requiring a Sedimentation and Erosion and Control Plan. The two classifications also apply agricultural and forestry best management practices as well as stricter erosion controls for transportation projects. No restrictions are placed on dams or water resources projects.
If a water body is designated HQW, stricter treatment standards are required for new or expanded wastewater discharges. If the water body is designated ORW, however, no new or expanded wastewater discharges are permitted at all. An ORW classification also has more stringent requirements concerning landfills—while a HQW classification only possibly restrict new discharging landfills, ORW does not allow any new discharging landfills.
Restrictions affecting individual landowners are minimal. For HQW and ORW both, landowners are not prevented from building a single family residence on their property or from expanding their existing homes. The two classifications also do not restrict boat docks or other water dependent structures. The classifications only require that land disturbances over one acre implement more protective sedimentation and erosion control measures.
If you would like more information comparing the effects of different classifications, including HQW and ORW, visit: http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/csu/freshwater.pdf
Do these restrictions apply to tributaries of a waterway designated HQW or ORW?
The tributaries of a river given HQW or ORW designation can also be given the same protections as the river classified HQW or ORW. According to the Division of Water Quality, whether or not to extend the protections to tributaries is decided on a case by case basis.
Since HQW and ORW protections take a watershed based approach, the protections they provide should apply to tributaries, but in the past this hasn't always been true. There has also been some variation as to how it affects named versus unnamed tributaries. The Division’s approach is to look at each waterway individually, especially since reclassification petitions are individual efforts filed by various citizens. If a petitioner wants to make sure tributaries are also given HQW or ORW protections, that is something that can and should be specifically requested in their reclassification petition, guaranteeing that the Department is on notice of the importance of protecting the river’s tributaries.