water quality

Thursday I attended a Sierra Club meeting in Pittsboro and learned more about the water issues associated with the huge Chatham Park development. The local goverment of Pittsboro will be deciding what happens there. First the area watershed has rare or endangered species of fresh water mussels and tiny fish called shiners. Of course it drains into Jordan Lake which is already impaired.   The state government has delayed the Jordan Lake water protection rules and has created a weird situation where if communities want to have better environmental rules they  will have to enact them this year with a 100% agreement vote. Also the state has reduced funding and resources for the state agencies that monitor and protect our water. Originally after hearing the Triangle Realtor presentation last summer I thought Chatham Park (for 55,000 people) was a done deal. I think there are a lot of reasons for believing it can not be that big. Much of land has streams and steep elevation and if logical stream buffers and slope rules are used that would limit what can be developed. The original proposal would result in population density and percentage