SOE2010.CleanWaterOutline

Water

[|Reduced LUST.xlsx] - this is a reduced database for our counties for the underground storage tanks from the Division of Waste Management of DENR []

[|watertemplate.docx]- this is the latest template with additional text/ pictures graphs <>

Mock-up Graphs and Tables for S0E:[|Graphs and Tables Mock Up.doc] <<Comments from george (edited by Brunell, 2/22/10)
 * provider table - lots of space, little information - can we compress? - although this was part of the original outline, we've decided not to include it.
 * map of service providers - near - can we do Triangle-wide? Yes, if we can get this information it will be for all 6 counties. The current map (taken from the Orange County report) was just meant as a sample. Can we map source area to consumption area? IN other words, for each provider can we show the watershed feeding their reservoir(s) and where their customers are (usually not in the watershed)? Ideally, yes. However, getting all this information may be overly complicated. There are quite a few water service providers in those counties, and even more water systems.
 * the graphs toward the end - are these examples? the only places with such data? Yes, these are examples. We should be able to find information on the 6 counties from USGS.

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Most of the following were taken from the 2009 SOE Orange County report: [|List of water providers.doc] [|Map of Water Service Providers.doc] [|Map of 303d Impaired Streams.do]c [|Map_of_303d_Impaired_Streams_(2006_and_2010).jpg]- rough draft of actual data [|Map of surface water spills or wastewater management incidents.doc] [|Dissolved Oxygen Level Trends.doc] [|Total Nitrogen Level Trends.doc] [|Groundwater Levels.doc]

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For 2-19-10 Item 1. Each Group Should Post on the Wiki by Thursday at noon - post this information toward the top of the page for your section
 * 1) Identify external reviewers for the sections
 * 2) ====Alissa Bierma -from Neuse Riverkeeper (contacted 2-15) (not gotten back to me)====
 * 3) Amy Pickle -Nicholas Institute
 * 4) Tom Davis Orange County (contacted 2-17)
 * 5) Jeff Hughes- UNC Environmental Finance (contacted 2-17)
 * 6) Identify potential audience for final presentation
 * 7) All external reviewers
 * 8) TLC staff and board members
 * 9) Anyone get data from
 * 10) Representative from the NCDENR Division of Water Quality
 * 11) Riverkeepers/ Nonprofits
 * 12) Water service providers
 * 13) Soil and Water Conservation District Reps.
 * 14) Planners from each county and major city
 * 15) Academics- Philip Berke, Todd BenDor, Bill Rohe (UNC planning professors), Martin Doyle (UNC Center for Watershed Management and Science)
 * 16) Nail down data sources
 * 17) Water providers and service areas- Jeff Hughes, USGS
 * 18) Usage trends- USGS
 * 19) Safe yields- USGS
 * 20) Daily demand- USGS
 * 21) Water flow levels- USGS
 * 22) Average/ Maximum Daily Demand- USGS
 * 23) # of Wells- County information/ from municipalities (permit required to dig wells?)? TJCOG maybe? DENR?- maybe instead just a map of areas not served by water and sewer?
 * 24) Groundwater levels- USGS
 * 25) Surface water spills/ waste managment incidents- State Environmental Health/ Public Health Division, DENR
 * 26) Dissolved Oxygen- USGS
 * 27) Nitrogen Levels- USGS
 * 28) Cost of treating water-Jeff Hughes
 * 29) Wetland acreage protected- National Wetland Inventory/ Land Coverage Data
 * 30) Wetland acreage lost- National Wetland Inventory/ Land Coverage Data
 * 31) Sedimentation levels- DENR
 * 32) Length of Riparian Buffers- Land Coverage Data
 * 33) Create mock up of graphs, tables, and maps for your section. These can be hand drawn or written - no need to be fancy. Scan and post as appropriate. Doing this helps you identify the kind of data that you will need to collect to create the graphic. It will also come in handy when you ask people for data - you can show them your mock-up and say "I'm looking for data to create this graph / table / map/"
 * 34) ## Start with most important figures.
 * 35) For graphs, label what goes on the axes and show what you might expect the ranges to be.
 * 36) For tables, label the rows and columns that you wish to find data to fill in.
 * 37) For maps, what will the map legend be?
 * 38) Triangle Region Watersheds; the legend will contain unprotected, protected, and critical regions as well as lakes, reservoirs, rivers, and major streams
 * 39) Water and Sewer service areas (possible) legend would contain various service areas, major roads, county lines
 * 40) Map of 303d impaired waters (we have this for 2010 and 2006), could be colored coded in legend by violation OR could have one map showing if a body of water was listed in 2006, 2010, or both years. The legend would also contain county lines and watersheds.
 * 41) Possibly a map of wetlands, or impervious surface or change in impervious surface...
 * 42) Updated Outline with Revisions from TLC- Latest Water Outline

[] Outline with assignments as a google doc.

Resources for writing text and TJCOG contacts: [|Resources for Water Quality Text.docx]

links to county Soil & Water Conservation websites: http://www.chathamnc.org/Index.aspx?page=131 http://www.wakegov.com/swcd/default.htm http://www.co.durham.nc.us/departments/swcd/ http://www.leecountync.gov/Departments/SoilWater/tabid/118/Default.aspx http://www.co.orange.nc.us/ercd/index.asp http://www.co.orange.nc.us/soilwater/index.asp -Brunell 2/4/10

how we could use inVEST: "With InVEST, users can switch back and forth between [|economic] and [|biophysical terms] as they evaluate the costs and benefits of land-use or policy decisions. Water quality, for instance, can be readily understood by government regulators in biophysical terms, using Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) - established limits on contaminants or sediments used by U.S. government agencies. Alternatively, we can calculate the cost to the local community of water treatment in economic terms like dollars." http://www.naturalcapitalproject.org/InVEST.html -Brunell 2/4/10

Intro- Why important (cost of treatment, recreation benefits, need to support economic, agriculture, population growth), what watersheds found within region, major rivers, main reservoirs, total stream miles/ water acreage within region, TLC vision/goals (G)

Potable water- quality and quantity · Usage: major suppliers of water and their service areas, conservation efforts and level of consumption-per capita trends, changes in usage over time, safe yield, drought, infrastructure costs (G) · Groundwater: levels, releases from underground storage tanks (B) <> · Surface: wastewater spills and amount reaching surface waters, dissolved oxygen and total nitrogen for surface water quality, high and low levels for Jordan & Falls Lakes and rivers just below dams (K)

Streams- impaired/ fully supporting streams- 303d list/ map, length with riparian buffer (trend if possible), high and low stream flow, types of pollution (K)

Wetlands-acreage preserved, acreage lost (development), role of wetlands (stormwater management, flooding reduction, filtering) (B) What TLC is doing? (TLC)

(Interspersed through report- educational boxes, ideas for conservation, maps, graphs)

// Possibly in this section or other sections: // Recreation- number of days Falls/ Jordan beaches closed for coliform or other health issues, fishing? Wildlife- endangered species, invasive species Farmland- best management practices for protecting water quality

Files I found this week <>


 * Benefit Description & Vision for Clean Water**

The SOE 2009 report for Orange County would be a good template to use for our report on the Triangle environment. The data is recent and applicable to the target region, and we could do the same or similar analysis for the remaining counties as well: http://www.co.orange.nc.us/ercd/documents/2009%20State%20of%20Environment/SOE_2009.pdf

The basic outline (from Table of Contents): -Brunell 2/4/10
 * 1) Introduction
 * 2) Water Usage
 * 3) Public Water System Safe Yields
 * 4) Groundwater Quality
 * 5) Groundwater Quantity
 * 6) Wastewater Treatment and Disposal
 * 7) Surface Water Quality
 * 8) Stream Ratings
 * 9) Ongoing Concern: Radon and Arsenic in Groundwater

[] [] [] [] [] []
 * Watersheds by County:**

[] [] [] [] [] []
 * Watershed information:**

[] [] [] [] [] []
 * Summary of Monitoring Reports by Watershed**

[] [] [] [] [] []
 * Water Resources by Watershed**

[] [] [] [] [] []
 * 303d Lists:**

[] [] [] [] [] [] []
 * Biological Integrity Data from the 303d list- most consistent problem within watersheds (largest in most)**


 * NC FIPS Codes (Used for determining counties within the state- each assigned a code- need it to understand usage data)**: []


 * NC Water Usage:** [], []
 * USGS Surface Water Data for NC:** []
 * USGS Water Quality Data for NC:** []
 * NC Fish Kills:** []

Abundant clean water is essential to our region’s public health and economic vitality. We drink water, we eat fish that come from it, and we use it for agriculture, industry, and recreation. Clean water is essential for healthy ecosystems and the native plants and animals that rely on it. Population growth in our region has increased demand for clean water, while pollution related to population growth compromises our water supplies.

TLC envisions a Triangle Region in which the supply of and demand for clean water are balanced at levels that can be sustained for people, plants, and animals.

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4. Clean Water – I (george) think there are too many things here – we might want to streamline – but I could be wrong … ALSO Cam McNutt & Evan Kane at DENR have offered their help pulling some data together
 * Statement of vision and goals – safe and abundance water for drinking and recreation
 * Summary – Where are we? What do we know? What don’t we know? <>
 * % streams with forested buffers (at 30m, 100m; NLCD data) National Hydrography Dataset [|http://nhd.usgs.gov]
 * High & low levels for Jordan & Falls Lakes and rivers just below dam (USGS data available)
 * High and low stream flow / level for select streams (is there a threshold level below which aquatic systems are compromised?)
 * Water withdrawals and use (available by county, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005(soon) http://water.usgs.gov/watuse and http://nc.water.usgs.gov/infodata/wateruse.html )
 * Cost of water treatment at major sources: Falls, Jordan, Michie, OWASA, Clayton & Smithfield – report on a per million gallon and per capita basis, trends in inflation-adjusted dollars
 * Recreation: # of days Falls / Jordan beaches closed for coliform or other health issues
 * 303d lists – would like to create summary tables of %streams meeting use categories, or something similar to that (will have to be done to 12-digit HUCs – smallest set that includes the whole region) (2008 report will be best to use, once it becomes available) (currently cannot use these data for trends because methodologies have changed) http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/tmdl/General_303d.htm#What_is_the_303d_list
 * Take a look at “Water Quality Report Card” on DENR site
 * Groundwater – use for private and community wells – proportion of total water use sourced from well; Division of Environmental Health Source Water Protection Program has maps of contaminated well sites (original source is Division of Waste Management)
 * TLC’s role and contribution
 * Amount and portion of buffers protected by TLC
 * <<riparian buffer education work--Katherine
 * partnership activities with other organizations--Katherine
 * Acreage of forests in critical watersheds preserved--Amanda
 * acreage of wetlands preserved (this and the last could be in water or wildlife or both) --Amanda 1/20
 * Others from Heinz report-
 * Indicators from Heiz Report
 * total impervious surfaces- national land cover dataset
 * water clarity- [|http://dipin.kent.edu], []
 * stream habitat quality- EPA's wadeable streams assessment- [], STORET data [] and []
 * established non native species- Biological resources division's nonindigenous aquatic species- [] Katherine 1/19>>
 * Here are a few more water quality links. (Steve Allen)
 * Water quality links []
 * NC Wildlife Resources []
 * National Wetland Inventory/ other measures of how well wetlands are protected. -Ginevra 1/20
 * Floodplain information...amount of development/impervious surfaces within 100 year floodplains?
 * Native Trout Waters/Shellfish waters (not sure if there are any in this area)
 * <>
 * Other ideas: per capita water use, current water conservation education and outreach efforts, background on current and future supply and demand projections, drought frequency, climate change effects on water supply, stormwater management efforts, current policies that apply to water, map of swimmable water bodies, TMDLs, where to start?? --Amanda 1/20 (Note, my color changing isn't working at all, sheesh)
 * Other ideas: per capita water use, current water conservation education and outreach efforts, background on current and future supply and demand projections, drought frequency, climate change effects on water supply, stormwater management efforts, current policies that apply to water, map of swimmable water bodies, TMDLs, where to start?? --Amanda 1/20 (Note, my color changing isn't working at all, sheesh)