WATER
NEEDS
Wake County could face growing water shortages if realistic
and sustainable planning is not accomplished to balance
finite supplies with growing commercial and residential
water demand.
The
Neuse River Basin is one of the fastest growing river
basins in the country. Increasing demands for drinking
water from both Falls Lake and the Neuse River could
have detrimental economic and environmental consequences
if proactive conclusions and sustainable public policies
are not enacted.
The
Cape Fear River Basin is a water supply source for thousands
of Wake County residents, including neighboring Chatham,
Harnett and Durham counties – which are also experiencing
growth.
Jordan
Lake (which is mostly situated in Chatham County) serves
the Wake County communities of Cary, Apex and Morrisville,
as well as Research Triangle Park. Currently, Jordan
Lake water allocations total 55 mgd, or 87% of the lake’s
maximum allocation capacity of 63 mgd.
Man-made
reservoirs like Falls Lake and Jordan Lake rely upon
area rainfall to maintain adequate lake levels for municipal
water intake, while providing sufficient river flows
downstream.
Areas
within Wake County that are not connected to municipal
water systems must pump ground-water to the surface
through wells. Ground-water supplies often rely on rainfall
to maintain water tables for pumping.
If
changing weather patterns (due to global warming or
natural circumstances) reduces area rainfall, inadequate
water supplies could have serious impacts on Wake County
and the surrounding area.
If
poorly managed growth result in water shortages during
periods of reduced rainfall, sustainable growth cannot
be accomplished.
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WATER
QUALITY
Discharges
from sewage treatment plants, storm-water runoff from
roads, lawn herbicides, pesticides and sediment created
by development are carried into streams, rivers and
lakes. They can contaminate local water supplies unless
robust water treatment facilities remove the pollution.
If
adequate measures and ongoing practices are not adopted
to limit the impacts of discharge and run-off over the
next few years, Jordan Lake and parts of Falls Lake
could be added to North Carolina’s list of impaired
waters.
In
recent years (typically during summer months) the local
media has reported incidents of contaminated drinking
water – forcing citizens to either boil water
or not use it. These occurrences involved water from
both municipal and ground-water sources. In one case,
restaurants were forced to close their doors to customers
for a weekend, causing revenue losses and economic impacts.
The
question begs to be asked – and answered: Are
these types of drinking-water incidents that we are
experiencing in our area, also occurring with comparable
frequencies elsewhere in the US?
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AIR
QUALITY
Wake
County consistently ranks among the top North Carolina
counties in the number of unhealthy air quality days
per year.
Nationally,
in 2005 the Triangle was in the top-20 metropolitan
areas experiencing the most days of unhealthy air for
sensitive people (Air Quality Index ratings above 100).
The
two major sources of air pollution effecting Wake County
come from coal-fired power-plants that produce electricity
and vehicles powered by fossil-fuels.
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ENERGY
NEEDS
Affordable and abundant energy is the lifeblood of modern
societies. It affects everything we do. Energy costs
are embedded into products and services that we use
daily. Sustained shortages or disruptions of energy
would alter civilization as we know it.
Energy
in the form of electricity fuels growth in both private
and public sectors. As growth has occurred, more centralized
electricity generating power-plants have been built
to meet growing demand in residential, commercial and
government sectors. Historically, these new power-plants
have been coal-fired, nuclear or natural gas power-plants.
Coal-fired
power-plants are major sources of emissions for: smog
forming pollutants; mercury that contaminates the aquatic
food-chain; and carbon dioxide – the major contributor
to global warming.
Commercial
nuclear power-plants produce long-lived radioactive
wastes: “high-level” waste in the form of
irradiated spent fuel-rods and so-called “low-level”
waste, which are typically power-plant internals contaminated
with high-level waste.
Both
high-level and low-level wastes produced in commercial
nuclear reactors have long half-lives and high levels
of radioactivity. They remain dangerous for thousands
of years and must be isolated from the biosphere until
the radioactive decay process reduces the risk. The
accepted practice for isolating radioactive waste is
burial. The waste can not be permanently disposed of
per se.
In
1993, a location in Wake County was selected as a disposal
site for burying “low-level” radioactive
waste from 8 states. If built and operated, it would
have likely become the largest low-level radioactive
waste disposal operation in the U.S. Ultimately the
selected site’s geology could not be scientifically
proven to permanently isolate the waste. Through public
resistance and outcry and after spending over $30 million
of North Carolina tax-dollars to establish the facility,
the state withdrew from the Southeast Radioactive Waste
Compact, halting the endeavor.
North
Carolina’s historical economic engine has largely
been a 3-legged stool: furniture manufacturing; textile
manufacturing; agriculture (largely tobacco and cotton).
Many
manufacturing operations required large amounts of electricity
and North Carolina’s electric utilities met the
challenge by providing reliable electricity to meet
the state’s demand for decades.
Today,
our economy has changed dramatically. Many manufacturing
operations and jobs have disappeared. Much of North
Carolina’s economic engine is in service based
industries, with employees working in offices, retail
establishments, construction and warehouses. These sectors
typically require less electricity, as compared to large
manufacturing operations needing copious amounts from
centralized power-plants.
Within
this framework, North Carolina faces major policy decisions
for meeting the state’s growing electricity demand.
Are new expensive centralized power-plants necessary?
Can reliable, clean and sufficient electricity be provided
using new technologies, improved efficiency and distributed
generation? What success stories can we learn from new
electricity models being adopted elsewhere in the US
or even Europe, which could apply to North Carolina
and Wake County?
If
a revised electricity model is implemented in North
Carolina, what new business and employment opportunities
will be available within Wake County? What policy considerations
should local elected officials in Wake County contemplate?
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