Pollution solution for Lockwood Folly River is in the community, advocate says

Improving the quality of polluted shellfish beds at the Lockwood Folly River will require a community effort, a coastal advocate says.

Public comments recently sought about pollution of shellfish beds in the river will aid in finding solutions, Mike Giles with the N.C. Coastal Federation said.

“The challenge is to all work together—communities and government—to try to mimic the natural hydrology,” Giles said—to soak in stormwater before it runs off and leads to pollution of the river.

The North Carolina Division of Water Quality sought written comments from the public through Aug. 13.

High bacteria levels caused by polluted runoff have led to current permanent or temporary closure of about 55 percent of shellfish beds in the river running between Holden Beach and Oak Island, Giles said. A water-quality assessment has determined fecal coliform is causing the pollution of the river, which is part of the Lumber River Basin.

Data collected by volunteers between 2007-2009 has determined bacteria entering the river after each rainfall needs to be reduced by as much as 84 percent in order for it to meet state water standards for shellfishing.

The federation and DWQ joined with Brunswick County, the N.C. Ecosystem Enhancement Program and the N.C. Department of Transportation for the three-year study of the river, funded by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Giles said the permanent shellfishing closure line is in the lower estuary. The closure also affects oyster reefs that provide habitat for finfish and their larval life.

“Varnamtown is right north of the permanent closure line,” Giles said. “Some in Varnamtown use that lower estuary recreationally and commercially. It’s very important as far as fisheries and shrimping.”

The only way the river is going to be open is to “clean the water and stop the bacterial pollution of the upper watershed,” Giles said.

That’s what the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), a federal program that addresses waters not meeting water quality standards, is all about, Giles said.

TMDL establishes a benchmark for how much pollution the river can take and still be open for shellfish waters, he explained.

With TMDL, “the goal is to reduce that amount of polluted water coming into the [river],” Giles said, “and also develop an implementation plan and strategies” to improve the quality.

Individual landowners need look no farther than their own backyards to identify criteria and implement strategies to alleviate stormwater runoff, Giles said.

The agency currently is working with HOAs in the River Run and Winding River communities, for example, for “community conservation assistance,” Giles said.

NCDOT has implemented changes at public roadways and bridges, while Brunswick County has a low-impact development ordinance.

HOAs, he said, provide labor to plant plants and implement rain gardens and wetlands to help alleviate runoff pollution.

In addition, the N.C. Wildlife Commission just revamped the Sunset Harbor boat ramp so no water drains down the ramps, Giles said. There are also pervious paving and plantings to stop runoff from the facility.

This region, he said, “is one of our priority regions. We’re looking to implement a plan for at least five years.”

By getting input from other scientists and the public, “it helps make for a better project,” Giles said. “We had over 100 volunteers working on this.”

For Lockwood specifically, he said an army of people who care about the river went out in “nasty weather,” battling snakes and mosquitoes to obtain water samples during the data-collecting period.