Yadkin Riverkeeper is excited to announce the release of the “Roadmap to a Cleaner Yadkin,” which will lay the foundation for prioritizing our efforts to improve water quality in High Rock Lake and the upper Yadkin River. Funded by a the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Wells Fargo Resilient Communities program, the report is the culmination of several years of work with the Piedmont Triad Regional Council (PTRC) to develop and apply a GIS-based assessment tool to project nutrient and sediment runoff in the Yadkin River watershed above High Rock Lake (HRL).
The Roadmap also includes strategies and recommendations to reduce nonpoint source pollution from a variety of sources and identifies several sub-basins for watershed assessment studies, stormwater management and stream restoration projects and land conservation initiatives.
The recommendations in the report are based on a review of previous nutrient modeling for HRL, the results of the assessment tool, and the input of the YRK Watershed Protection Task Force. YRK convened the Task Force composed of representatives from water and sewer utilities, soil and water conservation districts, regional land trusts, and a stream restoration expert, to provide input on the assessment tool and recommendations. The findings and recommendations in the report have not been endorsed by any task force members or other organizations. Yadkin Riverkeeper alone is solely responsible for its contents and conclusions.
Of significance, is the finding that developed land in the watershed will more than double from its current 13 percent to 32 percent by 2060, only exacerbating water quality issues related to nutrient and sediment runoff. The findings also note the problem of reducing nonpoint source pollution is multi-faceted, with many different sources of nutrients and sediment. The assessment tool and recommendations focus on potential sources of nonpoint source pollution and do not consider impacts of point source pollution from wastewater treatment plants or industrial discharges, which are known and quantified.
The Roadmap identifies seven sub-basins where collective actions and strategic partnerships will have the greatest impact on reducing nonpoint source pollution in the Yadkin River watershed. It also includes maps that highlight priority conservation areas in need of protection to reduce stormwater runoff and sediment transport, and strategies to implement the recommendations, including working with local and state government agencies to explore innovative financing mechanisms and incentives.
This report does not recommend specific new water quality standards, but does conclude there is a need for chlorophyll-a, nutrient and bacteria standards for HRL to improve overall water quality throughout the upper basin. YRK’s objective is to work with state regulatory agencies, local governments, the Yadkin Pee Dee River Basin Association, the Yadkin Pee Dee River Water Management Group, soil and water conservation districts, land trusts and other stakeholders to implement the recommendations in the report and develop reasonable water quality standards to protect drinking water supplies and recreational uses of the River and HRL.
Read Roadmap to a Cleaner Yadkin here.
See the brochure here.