Clean Water in the News

Submitted by Bill Thomas: 

Outstanding Resource Waters! What a blessing that we in Transylvania County have a river that meets this prestigious state water quality designation. Many may be unaware of the National Wild and Scenic Horsepasture River in the western part of the county.

It was designated by Congress in 1986, the bill signed by President Ronald Reagan, with overwhelming support of hundreds of people, including the then-county commissioners. If you have seen the river you understand why it is so special, and if you haven’t, you need to visit it. It is only natural that one would want to protect it.

The Sierra Club has been criticized for initiating the proposal by the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources to upgrade the water quality classification of the Horsepasture River from Class B Trout waters to Outstanding Resource Waters (ORW). The implication is that the Sierra Club is promoting environmental protection over economic development and jobs, but we reject this choice, maintaining that in fact, jobs and prosperity depend crucially on our natural environment, and that we can have, and deserve to have, both.

I’ll bet most would say that what is truly outstanding about Transylvania County is the clean water in our numerous drop-dead gorgeous creeks and rivers embedded in the incredibly beautiful forests and mountains in which we live. They have enormous economic as well as spiritual value. “Selling” them amounts to burning the furniture to stay warm.

The proposed reclassification would result in management of the entire Horsepasture watershed (in both Transylvania and Jackson counties) to ORW standards to protect existing water quality. Buffer widths along streams are increased to 30 feet from the 25 already required by the current trout stream classification, which does not seem like much of a problem, but no new waste discharge permits would be permitted. Existing waste discharge permits would be unaffected.

Thus the concerns expressed by our county commissioners, the McNeely family, and other upstream developers about the effect on economic development really revolve around housing or industrial projects that would require wastewater treatment plants, or expansions of existing ones. Developments using septic systems where wastes are not discharged to the river and its tributaries would not be affected. Stormwater discharges are permitted, with restrictions on how they are handled.

As far as is known by DENR — which did talk with county planners well before the hearing — no developments are currently proposed that would run into problems with the proposed classification. (This is one of the potential difficulties that the public announcement and hearing are intended to uncover before the Environmental Management Commission makes a final ruling.) At the moment the objections expressed appear to be generic concerns about what might be a problem in the future.

So what is it to be? Sacrifice existing water quality for the sake of developers, or protect it for all of us, as is the expressed state policy?

I confess that for me personally it is the majesty and grandeur of the Horsepasture and its surroundings that move my soul and lead me to call for protection and preservation. The time to save something is while you still have it! I and the Sierra Club feel strongly that the future welfare of our region depends heavily on protection of our natural assets.

This reclassification is not a done deal. The final decision rests with the Environmental Management Commission after they review comments and DENR’s recommendations. You are urged to make your comments by June 2, by either writing to: Elizabeth Kountis, DENR-Division of Water Quality, Planning Section, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C., 27699-1617. She can be reached at 919.733.5083, extension 369, or by email at Elizabeth.Kountis@ncmail.net.

(Bill Thomas was the president of the Friends of the Horsepasture River from 1984 to 1986, leading efforts to help obtain the national Wild and Scenic designation and the state Natural and Scenic River designation. He was also Sierra Club’s point man on creation of Gorges State Park, which is adjacent to the Horsepasture, and now serves on its Advisory Committee. He can be reached at billthomas@citcom.net.)