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SECTON 6 – MITIGATION FOR SECONDARY AND CUMULATIVE IMPACTS
6-15
adopt minimum statewide water supply protection standards by January 1, 1991, and to
reclassify all existing surface water supply watersheds to the appropriate classification by
January 1, 1992. The goals of the WSW Protection Program include:
Protection of surface drinking water supplies in North Carolina from nonpoint source
and point source pollution from urban runoff and wastewater discharges
Provision of a cooperative program of watershed management and protection that is
administered by local governments consistent with minimum statewide standards
The NCDEMLR and NCDWR Water Quality Program manages the WSW program through
oversight of local planning ordinances and monitoring of land use activities. Local WSW
programs must be approved by the EMC. The WSW program requires local governments to
adopt the following land use controls and limitations based on watershed classifications:
Requires limitation of impervious surfaces around water supplies unless stormwater
controls are used
Requires protection of riparian buffers (100-foot-wide buffers in all development that
exceeds the low-density option, or 30-foot-wide buffers otherwise along perennial
waters)
Limits some land uses
Limits dischargers (NPDES permits in certain situations)
Allows the use of clustering and density averaging to meet overall development density
limits
Watersheds that are protected under the WSW Program have a classification of WS-I
through WS-V, where WS-I has the most restrictive controls.
A portion of the Town (0.11 square mile) is within the Jordan Lake WSW. The State has
developed special rules, under 15A NCAC 02B .0263 through .0273 and .0311(p), designed
to restore and maintain nutrient-related water quality standards in B. Everett Jordan
Reservoir. The reservoir’s classified uses are set out in 15A NCAC 02B .0216, including use
as a source of water supply for drinking water, and culinary and food processing purposes.
Rules specific to the Town are discussed in Section 6.2.
6.1.21 Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program
The USDA and NCDENR manage the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. USDA
and NCDENR, with the participation of the Natural Resources Conservation Service
(NRCS), the Farm Service Agency, the EEP, and the CWMTF have protected 5,000 acres of
buffers and conservation areas in the Jordan Lake watershed. Conservation Reserve
Enhancement Program funds are also available in the Neuse River basin. This program uses
financial incentives to encourage farmers voluntarily to remove sensitive land from
agricultural use or implement BMPs. Currently, no lands in the Planning Area are farmed
and, thus, this program is not currently applicable to the Town.