Commissioners Ervin Portman and Betty Lou Ward voted against removing the ordinance.

The Recreational Land Area Contribution requires that residential developers allocate one-thirty-fifth of an acre per lot toward preserved open space or passive recreation. A payment equal to that can be made instead.

The funds are used by the county to purchase and preserve open space, but must be done so within three miles of the new development.

Commissioners called the tax inefficient because it has only preserved 154 acres of land and raised $1.7 million during the past 10 years. About $42,000 of which has been spent. The vacant properties are to be used for future greenways or other green-space.

They also noted that during the past 10 years the county has received about $91 million in voter-approved bonds to be used for open space. The county still has $20 million in bonds available to develop open space. .

The county has also partnered with local municipalities to use schools for recreation through the Community Use of Schools Program.

During a public hearing on the change Sig Hutchinson, chair of the Open Space and Parks Advisory Committee said that the keeping the ordinance in place was necessary because the funds can be used for preserving open spaces, but also for passive recreation, unlike the open space bonds that can only be used for open space and water quality.

“Every dollar we could spend on recreation is critically important,” he said. He argued that home values increase when open space and parks are located in residential areas.

Hutchinson said that part of the inefficiency of the ordinance is the three-mile requirement. He asked that there be more flexibility.

He wanted the advisory committee to be able to work with staff over the next to years to use the funds and come back then to discuss the ordinance. He also said the group would be comfortable with temporarily suspending the tax for two years.

“This is an opportunity to help the development community to get back on its feet,” Tim Minto executive vice president of the Homebuilders Association of Raleigh Wake County, told the commission during the hearing Tuesday.

He said that $90 million is already spent on preserving open space and if there is a problem with the bond restrictions then work could be done to remove those restrictions and open up the funds.

He said that eliminating the tax would help more developers come into Wake County to do business.

Commissioner Joe Bryan said that this is a classic example of setting priorities. While preserving open space is important, he said that today the county’s priority should be job creation and economic development.

Commissioner Ervin Portman called removing the ordinance a mistake.

“As we continue to become one of the fastest growing counties in the nation,” he said, “we continue to have adequate parks and open space.”

He added that it would give Wake County an unfair advantage to attract developers over municipalities, like the City of Raleigh, that have similar ordinances on the books to fund open space.Similar Posts:

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About a year and a half ago, five like-minded individuals had a vague idea of starting a farm in downtown Raleigh that would provide locally-grown food to residents and businesses and act as a teaching experience to those more interested in farming, gardening and the origins of their produce.

The group, Raleigh City Farm, is in the middle of a rezoning application that would allow the 1.3-acre parcel across from the Peace College softball fields to be used as urban farmland.

Raleigh City Farm co-founder Laura Fieselman said the farm would demonstrate how food grows and offer different levels of education from identifying a potato to learning the proper way to grow it.

This vacant lot on North Blount Street between East Franklin and Delway is the proposed location for an urban farm.

The farm itself would be run by an experienced farmer and the fruit of their labor would be sold in local stores, restaurants and farmers’ markets.

The project differs from that of a community garden because of the commercial – albeit non-profit – component. The farm will also be tended to by an experienced farmer rather than community members or volunteers.

City planner Ken Bowers said that this is the first time they’ve ever seen an application of this type. More often, residents are looking to create a community garden, which currently doesn’t have a defined use in the city code.

Fieselman said that the goal is to have the property ready to begin planting next growing season.

With positive reviews at the zoning public hearing on July 19, Bowers said he thinks that their zoning application will be very straightforward. The group is applying to lift a condition that restricted agriculture on the property, which is zoned for a shopping center.

Because of the heavy community-involvement element of Raleigh City Farm’s mission, members of the organization began reaching out to the Mordecai Neighborhood in the beginning of the process.

“My first reaction was that something useful, exciting and vibrant [would be done] with a vacant lot, which is doing our neighborhood no justice,” said Reid Serozi, co-chair of the Mordecai Citizen’s Advisory Council.

Serozi said he was impressed with the group’s outreach and transparency about the project. Along with mass emails and Google groups, Raleigh City Farm held two neighborhood meetings with the residents that would be adjacent to the property.

“The neighborhood, to my knowledge, has given 100 percent support,” said Dwyane Beck, who lives within 100 feet of the site.

“I like the business concept, in which they hope to teach other people to grow other goods,” Beck said. An avid gardener, he had already been working with his neighbors to locate areas for community gardens.

One of the major concerns from residents, said Beck, were the aesthetics of the farm especially in the winter when the plants die and the land is barren.

Fieselman said that the group is working with an architect to make sure that the farm will be a beautiful sight in the summer and the winter. She said the wanted the farm to “be productive yet beautiful.”

Chris Gunter, a vegetable production specialist, said that most of the time the biggest challenges for an urban farm operation are the neighbors. “A basket of produce can help,” he laughed.

Gunter, a professor in the horticulture sciences department at North Carolina State University, said that some other concerns or challenges could be the history of the site itself. Knowing what kind of possible toxins in the ground would be important.

Residents might also have concerns with pesticide use, even at minimal levels, water access and runoff.

It’s also possible for urban farms to have animals, like chickens, which are already popular with downtown residents. “Animals have noises and smells that neighbors that may not be used to,” said Gunter.

If the farm will be operating a market, there may be traffic issues.

Overall, Gunter said he believed these were small concerns and are outweighed by the benefits. “If you can get an aesthetically pleasing environment, that’s also producing food, that’s already a double win,” he said.

Urban farms help put more fresh local produce into the hands of buyers, many of whom might live in food deserts, or areas that lack convenient access to fresh foods. While it would be hard to quantify, Gunter also said he believed that urban farms would have a positive affect on the local economy as well as fostering community relationships.

Joanna Lelekacs from the Center of Environmental Farming Systems at NC State, has been doing nation-wide research on incubator farms, which help grow new farmers by accessing land for different projects.

“There is a big movement toward increasing urban agriculture,” Lelekacs said. Part of that trend is the economy, as people grow their own food to save money, but also an increasing push to teach children healthy eating habits.

Cities throughout the United States have been experimenting with different ways to bring farming in a traditionally urban environment, said Lelekacs.

Boston, Mass. recently released a request for proposal for commercial farm enterprises for some public land. Special consideration is given to companies with some kind of benefit component, like a food bank or selling produce at a lower price for lower income residents.

Cleveland, Ohio has been working on a database listing land that is suitable for urban farming.

In Portland, Ore. city officials are using fruit-bearing trees to line their streets instead of more traditional street trees, like the ones found in Raleigh.

With the city revising the comprehensive plan to promote local food production, Bowers said he thinks that uses of property like this will happen again.

“Everyone will be looking at this,” said Bowers. “And [the city] will be looking at it too. You can’t get any more local than this.”

To her knowledge, there aren’t any urban farms in North Carolina, said Fieselman, who has only heard rumors of farms cropping up in Asheville and Charlotte. “It makes it really exciting that Raleigh may be the first,” she said.Similar Posts:

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That was just a couple days after the National Weather Service in Raleigh released a statement that started with the sentence, “Drought conditions continue to worsen over much of Central and Eastern North Carolina.” Raleigh is officially in a moderate drought.

Raleigh, like many other cities, faces tough choices when it comes to water. Water is paid by user fees. So when people conserve, the utility, which has its own budget, loses revenue.

Think back to the drought in 2007 and 2008. The city instituted mandatory water conservation measures and then had to raise rates.

So even though Raleigh is now in a moderate drought, the task force set up to look at Raleigh’s water utility says conservation measures will have to wait.

Say What?
Peter Scott, co-chair of the city’s Water Utility Transition Advisory Committee, WUTAT (pronounced WOO-tat) for short, told the Raleigh City Council earlier this month that 90 percent of the water system’s costs are fixed, while three quarters of revenues go up and down with water usage.

Scott, a retired chief financial officer for Progress Energy, explained the system’s financial model this way: “If you have a 10 percent reduction in volume, you would have a 75 percent reduction in revenues, but only a 1 percent reduction in costs. And that really means we have to be very careful about doing things right now that further drive down consumption or else we’re going to have to drive down costs.”

In other words, if people conserve more water (a good thing in the long term), the city will have to raise water rates (a bad thing during a recession, especially considering this is an election year).

Conversely, Scott said, “If you increase consumption, you will have more money to spend” on water infrastructure.

Wait, There’s More
To plan for the future, the city has built a new water treatment plant. That new plant and all the additional infrastructure needs of the system require investment. And investment means bonds.

The city water utility has a good bond rating — the best, actually. But to keep that rating, the Public Utilities Department has to keep water revenue (water bills and fees) steady or growing. Keeping that rating is important; it means to city can borrow money to make new plants or put pipes in the ground at a cheaper rate.

There’s the rub. To keep that bond rating, and keep growing the system and replacing aging pipes, additional water conservation measures would mean a drop in revenue. Or the city council would have to raise water rates. Or it would become more expensive to borrow money for big projects. And the city would have to raise water rates.

Notice a pattern?

Rising Costs, Less Water
No matter how you look at it, the city will have to raise water rates, according to Bill Holman, the other WUTAT co-chair. Holman also served as secretary for the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources 10 years ago and is now at Duke University.

This is the first summer for the new tiered rates program the city initiated for water bills. Tiered rates basically means the more you use, the more it costs. But it only applies to residential water customers.

In the short term, Holman said, the city needs to “go slow and be thoughtful” and watch the impact of water conservation on the utility’s bottom line.

In the long term, Holman said, conservation will be important. As Raleigh grows and expands, the city will “need to find more water,” Holman said, putting “more water” in air quotes.

“In North Carolina, we get a fair amount of rain, but we don’t store much of it,” Holman said.

Across the state, he said, water is cheap and the systems to get it into homes and businesses are inefficient. Finding “more water” involves conserving and reusing water and storing more of the rain that falls around Raleigh, Holman said.

On top of all these concerns with maintaining bond ratings and the political realities of water rates, WUTAT members also told the city council that there is $7 billion worth of underground pipes that will need to be replaced in the coming decades.

“We think the council needs to understand that we have a huge mountain of costs out there,” Peter Scott said, and water rates will have to go up.

In an interview with the Record this week, Raleigh Public Utilities Director John Carman said, “You could argue that the service we provide the city is underpriced.”

He said the department, which runs water and sewer for the city and surrounding towns connected to the system, plans to increase revenue by 7 percent per year for the next two to three years. That doesn’t necessarily mean raising rates. Instead, it will likely be a combination of rates, fees and new customers.

After those couple years, Carman said, his department would hope to continue increasing revenue by 6 percent per year. But, he said, it’s hard to predict what the financial picture will be more than a couple years down the road.Similar Posts:

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As more Raleigh residents get engaged with community gardens and more pop up around the city, would-be gardeners need to make sure they aren’t growing food on contaminated soil.

The Wedge Garden off Hillsborough Street just west of downtown.

All gardeners benefit from standard soil tests, which are available free-of-charge through the North Carolina Department and Agriculture & Consumer Services and will tell gardeners what kind of nutrients they need to add to the soil for a successful season. Urban gardeners may need to take special care if they do not know the plot’s previous uses. Commercial or private uses can still leave behind soil pollutants from chemicals, pesticides or even just a car dripping oil onto the dirt over time.

Some signs that soil pollutants may be present include lack of vegetation or discolored vegetation, soil that smells funny or looks different from the soil around it.

Mark Powers, regional supervisor with the state’s Underground Storage Tank program, suggested using your nose, too.

“The sniff test is the best,” he said. “If you are only talking about 5 gallon buckets’ worth of petroleum-scented soil, like a parked car was dripping over time, you can put it in your garbage.”

If the amount of affected soil measures more than five gallons, but is manageable, scoop it up and take it to the nearest facility that manages petroleum-laced soil. If the whole lot is affected, regardless of the pollutant, be sure to report it to the property owner or, if it is public land, to the city.

Powers also cautions everyone to use common sense.

“It could be dangerous if somebody comes across leftovers from illegally dumped nonpetroleum chemicals – especially leftovers from making methamphetamine. It’s a good idea to wear gloves while dealing with the spill and wash your hands afterwards.”

Petroleum is only one potential soil pollutant. Heavy metals exist naturally in soil, but excess levels can come from a variety of sources. Heavy metal soil tests check for excess arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, silver, selenium and zinc, but they are not free. Enco, Microbac and Element One are three area labs that perform the tests, but other facilities exist.

So long as the soil is not noxious vapors, even polluted plots can be used safely for food crops by not planting directly into the soil. “Using a raised bed, it would be your safest bet, “said Tony Duque, hydrogeologist and Brownfield project manager with the state. “You basically want to keep the roots out of the soil so the height of the bed will vary per plant.”

The Wake County Board of Commissioners Tuesday listened to a proposed ordinance change that would require regular inspections of septic systems. The inspection system would be similar to that of vehicle inspections, with residents required to get one every five years from an independent contractor. Homeowners would likely pay $200 for the inspection, plus the cost of uncovering the tank and pumping it out.

The change would also require septic system owners to install water meters to monitor the system’s intake. Such meters could cost an estimated $300. If approved, the changes would take effect July 1.

A study of 1 percent of Wake County’s septic systems found 10 percent were failing. At that rate, more than 1 million gallons of sewage a day is spewing out into people’s yards, ditches and more, said Tommy Esqueda, director of Wake County Environmental Services.

The county’s estimated 50,900 conventional septic systems are not regulated. That includes some systems within Raleigh city limits. Other types of septic systems are regulated by a combination of state and county agencies.

A sign that something is wrong with the septic system. Photo by Wake County.

Esqueda said septic systems are here to stay; connecting to municipal lines could cost a homeowner around $13,000 in some parts of the county. Yet homeowners with septic systems may not understand them and often do not report issues until their yard is full of waste or until their toilets overflow.

“We have really exhausted everything we can do to the developer, builder, the installers,” Esqueda said. “Once the keys are turned over to the homeowner, that’s where we have these issues. So we’re trying to close this gap.”
Septic repair costs can be as high as $2,000 or even $3,500 to replace an entire system.

The county issues educational materials, he said, but regular inspections would ensure residents would know about and fix troublesome systems. Many septic issues are caused by too much water entering the system at once, which is why water meters are suggested.

Commissioners weren’t so sure such costs were a necessary imposition on taxpayers. Commission Chairman Paul Coble asked if a crisis or some environmental danger was the reason for this new regulation.

“Why, other than we just decided we ought to be doing this?” he said. “My system — I should be taking care of it. When it gets beyond my property, or gets into public water, that’s when it becomes a problem for government to take care of.”

Commissioner Tony Gurley asked if there were other solutions.

“You don’t want to be the person coming onto my property telling me I have to pay $300 to put [in] a meter when I’ve never had a problem,” he said.

A man who identified himself as Billy Meyers said he has installed septic systems for decades. He said with uncovering the system and pumping it out, inspections might cost $1,100, something some “little old lady” can’t afford.

“Are there better ways to educate people?” he said. “We don’t need to make nine people pay for what one person needs.”

Mike Hoover, a professor of soil science at NC State University, said septic systems are capable of working permanently – under the right conditions. Certain soils do not handle the systems well. Permitting for septic systems is already based on soil conditions, but many areas of Wake County have poor soil. And as the county grows, developers will be moving into those areas, Hoover said.

Hoover, who helped conduct the study of Wake County septic systems, has conducted similar studies in other areas of the state and country. He said the fail rate of septic systems is higher when a structure is placed over the system or when the drain field is not shaped properly. In cases with both poor drainage shaping and poor soil, systems have a fail rate of 67 percent, he said.

Management techniques such as inspections in other parts of the state led to a 5 percent fail rate, he said.

“Those are the kinds of impacts management can have,” he said. “We don’t know which are those 10 percent [failing] until we go and check. The homeowner will not report it.”

Commissioners agreed they needed more information and will revisit the issue at a later date.

Learn more about septic system management in Wake County. Similar Posts:

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Ben Brusie stands near Granada Drive and Tyson Street, facing a house. He counts his paces — 15  – and walks onto the lawn.

Wearing a bright yellow helmet and an odd-looking backpack, Brusie examines the nearest tree, making notes on a tablet device. He then holds a stick up to the tree, makes another note and moves on, counting his paces.

If you haven’t already, you might see Brusie or someone like him wandering around your street.

He is not trespassing, and no, he’s not checking for UFOs. Bruise is an urban forester, part of a team taking a street tree inventory in Raleigh this month.

Raleigh’s first street inventory, to be exact.

And long overdue, according to Sally Thigpen, Raleigh’s urban forester.

“It’s critical,” Thigpen said. “It is very routine for urban forest management to pursue and get a street tree inventory for your city. Charlotte’s got one, Greensboro’s got one …  It’s kind of like Urban Forest Management 101: Get a street tree inventory.”

Ben Brusie counts trees in the city right-of-way. Photo by Jennifer Wig.

What is a Street Tree Inventory?

A street tree inventory is a complete survey of all trees and planting sites within the city right-of-way or on city-owned land such as parks. This data will enable Thigpen and her team to better manage Raleigh’s urban forest.

Thigpen and her crew of eight maintenance workers have a lot of ground to cover: more than 1,100 miles of street right of way, 9,000 acres of parks, about 63 miles of greenways and all the city cemeteries and properties.

After a large ice storm, her crews are out in full force, cleaning up dead limbs and removing potential hazards. The only trees they don’t manage are those planted under power lines, which are maintained by Progress Energy.

“It’s a pretty daunting resource that we have to maintain,” she said. “We have to make sure the trees are safe for people using the public right of way and our trails, that there aren’t any hazardous trees that could impact pedestrians and vehicular traffic. And because don’t have a really good grasp of what our resource is, we are very much reactionary.”

Why do we need one?

Thigpen relies on inspectors, parks and recreation staff and citizens to report when city trees are old, decaying or hazardous.

Knowing what kind of trees are planted in the city, where they are and what condition they are in will enable Thigpen and her crew to work more efficiently. The data will help identify where trees are needed, help them prioritize which trees need to be pruned or removed and will document the benefits of the urban forest.

“It allows us to create a strategic plan on how we’re going to manage the resource into the future, what our needs are going to be to do it effectively,” she said.

The inventory began in early 2010 with interns who are studying forestry at NC State. Working part-time, the interns managed to collect the species, size and condition information of trees in the Northeast section of Raleigh – about 25-30 percent of the city.

Thigpen used a grant of $10,000 from the Division of Forest Resources, plus a match from the city, to pay for that portion of the project. Money from the city’s Sustainability Fund – $175,000 – will pay for an outside firm, Davey Resource Group, to collect data for about 70,000 trees inside the Beltline.

With full-time crews, Davey will have its section complete at the end of February. At that point, the tree survey will be about 60 percent complete. Thigpen is still seeking funding for the final portion, but hopes to find grant money or city funding to complete the project by the end of 2011.

The data gathered will be invaluable, she said, from knowing just how much carbon the city’s street trees are sequestering to how much space out there still needs trees.

“We can identify areas in the city that have fewer street trees and we can target those for planting rather than saying, ‘Oh I know there’s a new neighborhood that just went in in southeast Raleigh. Let’s go offer them some trees.’ Now we can really do it much more equitably and with a much clearer picture of what the needs are.”

Knowing the type of trees in Raleigh will help prevent a widespread wipeout from disease, Thigpen said. Many cities, including Cary, are losing stands of Hemlock trees to a non-native bug, the wooly adelgid. Midwestern cities, heavily planted with a type of Ash, have been decimated by the Emerald Ash Borer.

“So when I look at some of the numbers we have now, that shows us that we have 20, 25 percent Maple, that makes me concerned,” she said. “We need to increase our diversity.”

The public will also have access to the tree information through iMAPS, and will be able to see that the huge tree near their neighbor’s house is a 28-inch red Maple in great condition.

What’s that guy doing?

So back to Ben Brusie and his coworkers from Davey Resource Group. The company conducts street tree inventories nationwide. Brusie and his cohorts are arborists certified by the International Society of Aboriculture. Brusie’s yellow pack holds a GPS tracker, sticking up to locate his signal. In his hands, Brusie holds a tablet with the map – sort of like looking at Google maps on your phone or iPad. His version also shows the lines depicting the city’s right of way and his exact location. At each tree, he enters the location and address. He notes the tree’s scientific name and common name. He then uses a measuring stick called a Biltmore stick to measure the tree’s diameter at breast height.

Then he moves on, counting 15 paces down the street. If no tree is there, he observes whether one could be planted. Is there room? Are there power lines in the way or a fire hydrant? And so on.

Photo by Jennifer Wig.

Why is an urban forest so important?

It may seem like a lot of time, energy and money is spent worrying about the number and condition of the city’s trees. But the trees have many benefits.

On average, a tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide during its lifetime. Trees can also help a city with stormwater mitigation, erosion control, improving water quality, reducing a building’s energy costs and supporting urban wildlife.

Aside from that, people just feel safer when there are more trees, Thigpen said. More people walk in tree-lined areas because it’s a buffer between them and vehicles, she said.

And believe it or not, money really does grow on trees. Studies indicate that people who shop in areas with big trees actually spend more money than those shopping in concrete jungles. Real estate values are also higher when there are more trees.

“It’s kind of an unconscious thing, but when you’re driving down a tree-lined street, it’s somewhere people prefer to be. They just like it better,” she said. “That means ch-ching dollars for the city.”

“So there’s real hard science behind this stuff. We don’t just plant trees because they’re pretty.”

So how is the City of Oaks doing?

Raleigh’s nickname is not without merit. Of the 65,000 street trees inventoried so far, 4,578 are Oaks. That’s around 7 percent. Thigpen guesses Davey’s crews will find many more Oaks inside the beltline.

Indeed, Davey’s workers said the biggest tree they’ve measured so far was 80 inches in diameter — on an Oak tree downtown.

However, the street tree inventory will not indicate the city’s overall canopy cover. Thigpen guesses Raleigh’s canopy – like that of many cities – is declining, despite laws requiring conservation and buffers.

“Are we losing in the short run? Absolutely. Anytime we have to cut down a big tree, that’s 50 years, 100 years it takes for a tree to get really large. That’s a hit, it really is,” she said. “As long as we’re planting them back, I think we’re doing OK.”

Thigpen said Raleigh has been proactive about planting in developed areas. For example, 400 trees will be planted this spring in the area where Edwards Mill Road was expanded. She said contributions from Umstead and the other many state- and city-owned parks help the area tremendously.

“Trees grow in this town. We have a lot of trees so that makes me very confident that even though we’re always playing catch up in the city and fighting development,” Thigpen said. Planting trees, she said, “is just part of the plan now. It’s just automatic.”

The Future

Still, Thigpen hopes she can convince someone with grant funding that Raleigh’s trees need to be inventoried – not just to complete this first step, but to monitor the city’s trees in the future. Ideally, she would inventory a different section of the city each year on a rotating basis.

Doing so could save lives, she said. Just last month a tree killed someone when it fell and crushed an occupied vehicle in Gatlinburg, Tenn. A similar incident happened on Old Stage Road in Garner in 2009. That tree was on private property and would not have been impacted by the inventory. But Thigpen said that does not mean the city shouldn’t do its best to prevent those types of problems on its land.

“If we had a complete street inventory we’d be able to identify trees that are in poor condition and do some proactive maintenance on them rather than waiting for something like this to happen during a thunderstorm,” she said. “A lot of cities use street tree inventories as a management tool, and with Raleigh the Capital City, we should really be the leader in the state for urban forest management.”

The event will collect items ineligible for normal curbside pick-up, including plastic bags, household hazardous waste, anything electronic with a cord (Caution! You are responsible for cleaning your own hard drive) and rigid plastics like lawn furniture, buckets and plastic toys will be accepted. Personal papers will be shredded onsite and gently used household items will also be accepted. Recycle relays, the Scrap Exchange and live music will create a fun atmosphere, so bring the kids along with your stuff and plan to stay awhile.

Why some stuff can’t be recycled in Raleigh

The saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” is not always true in recycling. Private recycling facilities make money by selling what is collected or they soon go out of business. Raleigh contracts with two recycling companies, Sonoco and Waste Management.

Sadly, a 39-year old worker died November 3 in a work-related accident at event sponsor Sonoco’s Rogers Lane location in Raleigh.

Like recycling companies, cities lose money if they pay to collect items no one wants to buy. That means buyers also need to be close, otherwise transport costs not only surpass the price paid for the product, they increase emissions, too. The items Raleigh collects are the items it can break even or make money on. As new markets develop for other recyclable products, the economics will change and the city will add items, but sustainability is the key.

According to Jim Foster, Raleigh Sonoco plant manager, the rigid plastic collected at the one-day event could be considered a pilot of sorts.“ They require more processing, but we won’t do that. We’ll send it as-is to a broker who will then grind it into pellets.” Although the final destination is up to the broker and whatever market they find, “much of it will be high density polyethylene which can be used to make the black drainage pipes used on construction sites.”

Foster said market prices for rigid plastic are as low as four cents a pound, so it’s no money maker, but other plastic markets are rising. Polyethylene terephthalate (aka PET), which is used in soda bottles is a growing market because, Foster said, it can used in carpets.

Foster said he would describe Raleigh’s recycling program as “very methodical in what they take. Many want to add grades, but Raleigh is focusing on higher dollar items to make sure they get good value. Raleigh knows they have to have a market to make their service feasible.”

Compared to other locations, Foster describes the quality of Raleigh’s recyclable waste stream as “better than most cities,” because it is clean. That’s important because when ineligible materials are present “that just adds more work on the side to take out the non-eligible items and increases the landfill items.”

To keep Raleigh’s curbside recycling program affordable, it’s important to know what is eligible and what is not. Paper, chipboard, cardboard and newspaper make up most of the eligible fiber items. The only plastics collected are bottles and soft plastic beverage rings. Even though yogurt cups, margarine tubs, trays and plastic pots used for plants are plastic, and have the same code on them as plastic bottles, they contain a chemical that requires more heat to melt then the bottles. Currently, the Southeast has no market for these items, but if one develops, they’ll be added to the list.

Plastic bags can be recycled but they are not eligible for curbside pickup as the bags jam the equipment. Instead, take your plastic grocery bags, along with dry cleaning and department stores clothing bags, wrapping from shipped products, #2 and #4 plastic film, produce bags, newspaper bags and paper product wrap to Harris Teeter, which does recover these items.

Like plastic, all glass is not the same. Glass that holds food works, but non-food items are sold in glass that contains extra chemicals that melt at a different heat. Metals like soda cans and canned goods are eligible, but dirty tinfoil is not. The reason is that the dirty tinfoil burns up before the food waste, so there’s no material to recover. Metals hangars jam up the recycling machinery, but dry cleaners often take them or they can go into the scrap metal bin at Wake County Convenience Centers. If you have a metal lid to a glass jar with a bit of plastic inside, go ahead and recycle it, but separate it from the jar. According to Raleigh’s recycling website, “the plastic will melt (actually burn) away long before the metal begins to melt in the manufacturing process.”

Containers that held anything hazardous like pesticides, oil or paint are not eligible for recycling. Bring them Saturday’s event or drop them off at permanent Wake County collection centers.

Curbside collection schedules in flux

If your neighborhood has not already switched from weekly bin pick-up to bi-weekly rollout containers, check the schedule to learn when it will happen in your neighborhood. The city estimates three years for the changeover to be complete. The savings will far outweigh the cost of the new bins, but there are other benefits beyond the balance sheet.

The larger bins allow for automated collection so workers do not have to leave the truck. That makes for faster and safer collection. The bi-weekly cycle will save gas and reduce greenhouse emissions, too. Larger capacity containers (95 gallons versus the bins’ 18 gallon capacity) have increased the amount recycled in other cities, the hope is that Raleigh residents respond the same way. Economically speaking, Raleigh expects to save more than $330,000 the first year and more than $2 million annually after the change is complete.

The items that will be collected will not change. The switch is more about quantity than increasing the types of materials recycled. If you can’t think of a way to re-use your old green bin, the city will collect it, depending on which part of the city you call home. The new roll-carts are being phased in by city quadrants and unwanted green bins will be collected the same way, via curbside pickup, on special collections days.

Of course, one way to reduce waste is to buy less of what needs recycling. Packaging creates a large part of the waste stream, so buying in bulk is one way to reduce waste on the supply side. Many consumers think too much packaging is used in items they buy.

Looking ahead

According to an email from Dani Fassette, marketing associate with Sonoco Recycling’s headquarters in South Carolina, “Recycling options for all commodities, including plastics, is growing and changing daily. Prices have been fairly steady for all plastic commodities throughout 2010, although we have seen recent increases”

“Rigid plastic is not collected regularly because of the inconsistent markets for the material and our current facility was not originally set up handle the sorting/baling demands that rigid plastics require. As the market demand for rigid plastics increase, we are looking for ways to expand our service offerings to accept the material. Hopefully, we will work with the City of Raleigh’s Solid Waste Department in the near future to add defined rigid plastics to their current curbside recycling program.”

A woman throws chew toys into the water for her dog, who leaps into the lake near the intake point for Raleigh’s drinking water.

At a glance, the water looks pretty clean. But in some areas of the lake, algae is blooming. And that could be a bad sign.

Falls Lake is listed on the Environmental Protection Agency’s list of impaired water bodies. And that means someone has to clean it up.

So here’s a basic breakdown of the Falls Lake situation:

What’s Wrong

There’s too much “ick” in the water. Ick is nitrogen and phosphorus, which mean more algae growth and other nasty things such as fish kills or an unpleasant odor or taste to the water.

“Too much” means it does not meet EPA standards for the Clean Water Act, which requires a body of water to be suitable for fishing, swimming and drinking.

How much ick are we talking? That depends on which part of the lake you’re dipping into for measurements. The lower lake, closer to Raleigh, from where drinking water is drawn, meets the EPA standards. The upper lake, north of Interstate 85, does not. The space between sometimes does and sometimes doesn’t.

Falls Lake is listed on the Environmental Protection Agency’s list of impaired water bodies. Photo by Leo Suarez.

So the Department of Environment and Natural Resources says we need to reduce the amount of one ick (nitrogen) by 40 percent and they want a 77 percent reduction of phosphorus — the other ick.

That’s a huge jump. Compare that to reducing levels of those nutrients in other nearby lakes such as Jordan, where the target reduction is under 10 percent.

What’s Causing the Ick

So how did this happen? These nutrients are coming from many sources:

Wastewater treatment plants – Sewage goes through a thorough cleaning process, leaving nothing but water to be dumped into the lake. However, that water still contains a lot of nitrogen and phosphorous from our waste.

Agriculture – The nutrients from agriculture come from both fertilizer runoff from cropland and animal waste getting into streams. There are no large-scale animal feeding operations in the Falls Lake watershed, but there are many small operations. Farmers will be required to add buffers between fields and tributaries and fence cattle out of the water.

Stormwater runoff – Water runs downhill, so any rainwater that sloshes through the streets, roads and parking lots will end up in the lake, along with a healthy dose of nitrogen and phosphorous.  Roads also add oil, brake dust, heavy metals and trash.

Why You Care
First things first: your drinking water is safe. Falls Lake’s 12,000 acres of water is the Raleigh-area’s main source of drinking water, serving more than 450,000 people.

Raleigh’s Assistant Public Utilities Director Kenny Waldrop said he is seeing more contaminants in the water, mainly in the form of total organic carbons, which come from algae. The more nitrogen and phosphorous, the more algae. The more algae, the more TOCs. Some total organic compounds are ok and are natural. But too much becomes a problem.

Click for a larger image.

Cleaning the total organic carbons from our drinking water is done daily as part of the treatment process. But with more in the water, it’s harder for the water treatment plant to handle and eventually it won’t be able to handle it anymore. That could lead to expensive upgrades in the way water is treated.

“We are forced to deal with more TOCs at the plant, and eventually the plant’s treatment processes will be maximized,” he said. “We watch very closely the raw water quality and if we feel like our processes are not protective, we will look at changing our processes.”

But the lake, which covers parts of Durham, Wake and Granville counties, is more than just our water source. It’s a place to play.

The lake has seven recreation areas, and activities include swimming, fishing, canoeing, boating, picnicking, camping and mountain biking. According to the Falls Lake recreation office, more than 954,000 people used the lake for some type of recreation in 2009.

“People aren’t inclined to swim and boat in a lake that’s murky from algae growth,” said John Husiman, the senior environmental specialist with DENR. “The drinking water is safe from Falls Lake, but the city of Raleigh does have to spend more money to treat the water. Ultimately it’s about achieving the water quality standards in the lake.”

Grady McCallie, policy director for the non-profit North Carolina Conservation Network, said making these changes is a protective measure, too.

More than 954,000 used Falls Lake for recreation last year, according to the park’s office. Photo by Leo Suarez.

“The drinking water is safe at this point,” he said. “But what happens if the lake continues to get worse or doesn’t get better?” he said.

Neuse Riverkeeper Alissa Bierma said one type of algae has the capability to produce harmful microcystin toxins. Those toxins have been found in the water at times, she said. The toxins can cause rashes, but if ingested, could also cause severe intestinal problems.

“At current levels, we’re probably safe in terms of our treated water, but if it gets worse we’re going to have to watch it,” Bierma said. “If we keep on a downward spiral we’re going to find it in the treated water. It’s not something we can brush off.”

What They’re Doing to Fix It

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has a plan: nine new rules and two amendments to rules for local governments to help make sure we reduce the ick in the lake and prevent more from ending up there.

The new rules are broken up into two stages. Stage One is the first wave of reductions, aimed at returning the lake to levels seen in 2006 and achieving water quality standards in the lower lake by 2021. That means reducing nitrogen by 20 percent and phosphorus by 40 percent.

Stage Two calls for more reductions in upper watershed (area above NC 50) to ultimately achieve the proper standards lake-wide by 2041.

The rules are similar to those in place around Jordan Lake and the Neuse River.

The rules target each area causing problems.

Farmers will have to install buffers around their fields, fence cattle out of creeks and have more strict regulations about fertilizer use.

Wastewater treatment plants will undergo technological upgrades to cut back on the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous in the water returned to the lake.

Right now, stormwater runoff from the average residential area adds eight pounds per acre per year to the lake water. The new rules aim to cut that to 2.2 pounds per acre per year.

There are many ways to cut down on the amount of nitrogen from development, including adding retention ponds and rain gardens. Each government would decide how best to meet the requirements and submit those plans for approval by DENR.

The rules also allow trading. For example, instead of farmers and wastewater treatment plants to each cut by 40 percent for nitrogen and 77 percent for phosphorus, it might be easier (or cheaper) for farmers to cut more. So the groups can make a trade – as long as the totals add up.

The Cost

Making those changes won’t be cheap. DENR estimates the total cost for the entire project, including costs for local governments is $605 million for Stage I and $946 million for Stage II.

DENR officials say that’s probably an overestimate. McCallie agrees.

“It’s a worst-case,” he said. “There are a number of ways to meet these reduction requirements. Some of them are hard to put a price tag on.”

But even if that figure is the worst case, there is some cost, and  it’s worse for some than others.

Costs will be cheaper in Granville County, for example, because the South Granville Water and Sewer Authority has already begun upgrading the water treatment plant, part of the Stage I requirements. So that will only cost $26 million. Stage II will be more expensive, at about $77 million.

Same for the city of Durham, which spent $45 million to upgrade Durham’s water reclamation facility in the mid-90s. Upgrades to improve the nutrient removal systems will only take $14 million.

But stormwater runoff will be more expensive; retrofitting to keep stormwater from entering the lake from nearby subdivisions requires tearing up roads and inserting larger pipes, finding land and then creating sediment ponds.

Local governments are facing bills of hundreds of millions of dollars to make the necessary changes. Photo by Leo Suarez.

Durham officials estimate that retrofitting existing development will cost $645 million. That’s one reason why officials there have suggested taking another look at the lake after Stage I, and then deciding whether Stage II is necessary.

“A lot of conservative assumptions were made by the DWQ about the way the lake will behave,” said Ted Voorhees, Durham’s deputy city manager. “Since they’ve layered in so many conservative estimates and since we can’t find any estimates that the lake is trending worse, we would suggest before the local governments commit to spending $3 billion dollars that we monitor over the next few years and use that data to determine whether it’s necessary.”

Raleigh Stormwater Utility Manager Danny Bowden said it isn’t too big an issue for Raleigh, which has a small area draining into the lake. But Durham: “Half their jurisdiction drains into Falls [Lake],” he said.

He said Stage II will be worse, because all existing development will have to cut its nitrogen and phosphorous contributions by half.

“That’s where a lot of potential costs come in. You’re talking everything in Raleigh,” Bowden said.

Raleigh’s wastewater treatment plant would not be affected by these rules, because it dumps water downstream.

But T.J. Lynch, superintendent of the Raleigh Public Utilities Department, said other state rules and mandates are also under reviews that affect Raleigh. Those rules, and the proposed rules for Falls Lake, are pushing wastewater treatment plans to use reverse osmosis, a form of filtering that uses a high-pressure pump to push the water through a very fine membrane to squeeze out even more molecular-level items such as nitrogen.

That high-pressure pump uses a lot of electricity, Lynch said. That combined with the capital costs could mean a 10-fold increase in your water and sewer bills.

“It’s tremendous,” he said. “Are residents of these towns ready to pay 10 times the water and sewer bills they are now? Our water bills would rival our electric bills. It’s important that we take a step back and say what’s the overall benefit to the environment that you get from that increase in cost? Do you get a tenfold benefit?”

DENR also estimates some cost savings, such as between $43 and 266 million saved in avoided drinking water treatment costs. And another $600-800,000 for reduced drinking water treatment costs.

“It’s always more cost effective to treat higher quality water. The more contaminated the water, the more chemicals you have to use,” said Kenny Waldrop, Raleigh’s assistant public utilities director. “So there is a relationship between raw water quality and the amount of chemicals that are used at any one time to render that water into potable water.”

The Blame Game

So how did all this happen?

That’s where it gets murky. There are six county governments and eight municipal governments in the Falls Lake watershed.

The worst ick areas are north of Interstate 85 around Durham and Granville county sections of the lake. Raleigh’s portion is slightly better and it gets clearer as you head downstream. The area around the water intake meets EPA standards.

Many blame Durham for planning decisions they say led to that pollution.

Bierma said you can’t only point fingers at current elected officials, and that these problems have been occurring for decades. But data about Falls Lake came out in 2006 and since then, very few local governments have stepped up to make changes.

“[Durham] hasn’t even adopted a pet waste ordinance and that’s, like, a two-second conversation in a meeting,” she said. “It’s those very basic things. Small decisions like that do make a difference.”

Cummings says blaming Durham is unfair, because Durham did not ask for the lake and did not choose to be upstream from it. Falls Lake was created when a dam was built by the Army Corps of Engineers between 1978 and 1981. (That’s another story.)

In addition, part of the reason for the higher concentrate of pollution in the northern sections is due to the amount of water in those areas of the lake. The lower lake is much deeper compared to the shallow portion north of Interstate 85.

The test point at which samples are taken to determine if the DENR rules are being met is just south of I-85. Durham officials say the test point should be in the middle of the lake – not near the upper end.

“There’s nothing requiring the Division of Water Quality to pick a single compliance point,” Cummings said. “There are different ways of measuring water quality. If they had chosen [a lower] point … we wouldn’t be going through any of this process.”

Bierma said environmental officials used a number of sampling points throughout the lake to determine there is a problem. Yes, they could have chosen a point below I-85 and it would have made cleanup easier because there would be less to do, she said.

“But we also could have chosen one further up the lake and more strict,” she said. “The entire lake does need to be clean.”

Bierma said that in the end, a second set of rules may need to be written to deal with the northern reaches of the lake.

Proposed Rule Changes

McCallie of the Conservation Network said arguing fault is moot. But he is concerned about some of the arguments area officials have made, including an agreement known as the consensus principles. Most area governments involved in the Falls Lake process have agreed that the situation should be reassessed after Stage I changes are complete.

Stage II could be used more effectively if we know how far we have come, said Durham County’s Cummings.

“Check back to see if seven additional years’ worth of modeling were telling us anything new about the status of the lake, and whether we could shape Stage II to be more cost effective,” Cummings said.

Waldrop said with Stage I will stop things from getting worse and take the lake back to chemical levels seen in 2006. He said doing so would be a “victory” for Raleigh’s drinking water.

Stage II would probably require $100-120 million in costs for his department to upgrade the drinking water treatment processes, he said.

But if the 2006 levels can be maintained, “there’s a reasonable expectation that we will not need to add advanced treatment technologies,” he said. “We support our consensus partners in the upper watershed in seeking additional testing over the next six to eight years and then a reevaluation of the social impacts of moving to Stage II.”

McCallie fears that such a pause-button approach might allow governments to halt the process completely, claiming that Stage II would be too expensive and difficult.

“We would fight that,” McCallie said. “We can’t walk away from this.”

McCallie and the Conservation Network also argue that the rules for Stage I should require more. More work now means Stage II won’t be such a huge leap.

“Let’s do the low-hanging fruit. And by the time we get up there, we don’t think we should have a review. By the time we get to that point, it’s not going to be nearly as scary because we will have accomplished a lot.”

McCallie also argues that the deadlines are too lax. Agreed, said Dr. JoAnn Burkholder, director of the Center for Applied Aquatic Ecology at NC State.

“A period of 25 to 30 years is unacceptably too long to wait for the state to achieve its water quality standard to protect this critically important drinking water supply. To me, the main problem with Falls Lake is that the lake has been degraded for some time,” she said, adding that the state of New York has never even allowed development around its water source. “North Carolina should be following suit. When you allow development in a watershed, you have to expect there’s going to be urban runoff and pollution in that runoff.”

Durham City’s Voorhees argues that assessing where we are with cleanup after Stage I simply makes sense.

“We’ve agreed that an adaptive management approach make sense, but it’s not adaptive management if you don’t adapt,” he said.

McCallie hopes it does not prevent them from moving forward.

“There is no proof if you let this go, that the drinking water is going to stay protected,” McCallie said.  “This is the lowest water quality standard in the state. We’ve got to meet it.”

What’s Next

So they’ve got these new rules proposed. This summer, DENR collected input from the public and the local governments about tweaks to the rules.

Now, DENR will take those comments and deliberate before making final approval to the rules by November. State law dictates that the rules must be adopted by Jan. 15, 2011.

A temporary version of the rules will take effect immediately. Meanwhile, the rules would undergo legislative review in 2011 or 2012.

Bierma worries about that part of the process. As local governments weigh in on the cost and problems associated with this cleanup, that fear might be used to halt the process or dilute the rules, she said.

“For Falls [Lake] we have a set of rules that would genuinely make a difference and help protect the health and safety of this community, but if we take it through the legislature and play the fear card rather than be honest we’re going to end up with a law that doesn’t protect Falls Lake.”

In the end, both sides are arguing the science, the measurements and the cost. But all agree: No one wants nasty drinking water.

“People are committed to Falls Lake,” Cummings said. “I appreciate that. We’re talking about spending billions of dollars here to clean up a lake, so we’d better know what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. We’d better be sure we’re targeting that money where it needs to go.”

The good news for Raleigh residents is that the city has long exceeded the law’s requirements. The city already takes televisions and computers, as the law will require, but it also collects just about any other electronic discard you care to recycle. The state reserves the right to expand the landfill ban legislation to include these items in future, but if you live in Raleigh, you can do that already.

The new law brings several benefits. By capturing the lead, cadmium, mercury electronics hold before they enter our landfills, we limit the impact of harmful materials in our landfills. Because landfills have limited space, the ban will add life to the current facilities. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, discarded electronics make up the nation’s fastest growing waste stream. Economically speaking, the work needed to recycle the units, scavenge salable components and harvest the glass, plastic and metals for reuse creates green jobs. On the environmental side, using recycled materials reduces the need to mine or manufacture new materials.

Unlike scrap tires and household appliances, where retailers charge an advance disposal fee at the time of purchase to pay for recycling, TV and computer manufacturers will finance the recycling effort. For much of the state, that means researching each unit’s manufacturer’s plans and locations to learn where and how they will collect your items. If you choose to go that route, the state has a website that will collect the information for the public.

You can visit the city website for electronic recycling for details, but here are a few of the basics.

Before you recycle any computers, you should clean the hard drive. No one else will do it after you drop off your item and if the data should fall into the wrong hands, neither the state nor the city are liable for any damages that may occur.

If you call (919) 996-6890, you can make an appointment for the city to come to your address and pick up your old computer plus peripheral items. Those include “devices that are normally attached to computers such as printers, scanners or external drives.” Don’t kick them to the curb early or someone else may come and get it without your permission.

If you prefer to drop off your items in person, a few locations are available. They’ll take “nearly any electronic device with a cord” but check out the list of acceptable items to be sure yours qualify. Televisions and computers are on the list. If they aren’t nearby, the city has a partnership with Eco Lube, which is located at 4901 Atlantic Avenue, but they will not accept large screen TVs at this location. (They’ll also take automotive fluids if you have any on hand that need recycling.)

If you want to recycle your TV, call the city to make an appointment for a bulk load pickup at no cost. If your set is a large screen model a fee may apply depending on its size. If it can’t be easily lifted into a truck, a fee may be charged.

So far, the new law doesn’t appear to being any changes for Raleigh residents, but Waste Reduction Specialist Linda Leighton is hopeful.

Part of the law establishes a fund for local governments willing to submit an approved plan to the state to receive televisions and computers locally. Although those funds would go the county, Leighton hopes that by working together there might be a way to reduce the “special load” fee the city charges residents for large pickups.

Harrison Rue, the consultant with ICF International who prepared the report, told councilors that the emissions inventory included all direct and indirect sources, from electricity used to light city buildings to employee travel.

Rue said the city largest electricity user was water treatment, which accounted for half of the city’s power bill. Raleigh supplies water not just for the city but for towns in the region, including Garner and Knightdale. He applauded the city’s growing use of hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles and other measures to reduce emissions.

The full report is below, but here are some of the highlights:

In 2007 the city used:

• 835,346 gallons of gasoline
• 882,315 gallons of diesel
• 444,979 gallons of biodiesel

In 2005, the most recent available data, the city’s electricity came from:

• Coal, 50.46 percent
• Nuclear, 38.74 percent
• Gas, 4.95 percent
• The rest came from hydroelectric, oil and other combustible fuels
• None came from solar or wind

Electricity accounted for more than half of the city’s emissions. From the report: “The City of Raleigh’s buildings, facilities, water and wastewater pumping and treatment plants, and lighting installations consume electricity that is mostly produced through the combustion of fossil fuels. The combustion of these fuels typically yields CO2, and to a lesser extent, N2O and CH4. Although these emissions are generated by power plants outside of the City’s direct control, by creating demand for this electricity, the City is indirectly responsible for these emissions.”

Emissions by department:

• Public utilities, 35 percent
• Solid Waste Services, 28 percent
• Public Works, 15 percent
• Convention Center, 7 percent
• Parks and Recreation, 5 percent
• Downtown shared facilities, 4 percent
• Police, 3 percent
• Fire, 2 percent
• Other, 1 percent

16ASGHGReport