A new dam would waste millions of taxpayer dollars and devastate the Little River and its fish, wildlife, and recreation opportunities. This threat landed the Little River in the number four spot in America's Most Endangered Rivers:2010 edition, produced by American Rivers.
The Little River is a critical resource to the surrounding
communities and home to numerous rare and beautiful animals.The river is one of the healthiest in the
region with waters that flow clear and clean.It has already been the target of restoration efforts by the community
to make it an almost pristine natural area only minutes outside Raleigh, the capitol city of North Carolina.Unfortunately, the future of the river is
dim, threatened with destruction through submersion behind a new, unnecessary
dam.The City of Raleigh is preparing to
build a new impoundment that would flood the river, destroying it and
everything that we love about it.
“The community has worked hard to protect and restore the Little
River through dam removal, historic preservation, and conservation planning; it
would be a crime for us to sacrifice such a beautiful and unique resource
without first doing everything in our power to find viable alternatives.”
-Alissa Bierma, Upper Neuse RIVERKEEPER®
Little River Reprieve
The following has been excerpted from the website of our partners, American Rivers. Please visit American Rivers' website for additional information and updates.
With almost no fanfare at all the City of Raleigh Public Utility Department announced that the proposed Little River Reservoir would be delayed for at least two years. This delay does not rescue the Little River from the ranks of America’s Most Endangered Rivers™. It merely gives us more time to work to convince the leaders of Raleigh that the best way to secure reliable water supplies into the future is through water efficiency.
The delay in the project has been caused by new requirements that the EPA issued mid-summer for approval of new drinking water impoundments. The EPA announced that they would not allow these projects to move forward if the communities that would be served by the new impoundment did not first aggressively pursue water efficiency. The policies and practices EPA identifies as critical to pursue mirror very closely to our own recommendations laid out in the Hidden Reservoir report.
This comprehensive evaluation and implementation of water efficiency by Raleigh should identify areas of water waste and save enough pure drinking water that the plans Little River Reservoir can be shelved indefinitely. Raleigh is in the process of expanding water treatment capacity at several locations and by 2015 will have up to 140,000,000 gallons per day available to use without the Little River Reservoir. Current water use is close to 80 million gallons per day or 180 gallons per person per day, if the Raleigh water system can reduce water use to a very achievable 110 gallons per person per day through water efficiency (some people can get their water use down to 60-65 gallons per day, including showers each day and laundry) there would be plenty of pure fresh water. Even with the projected doubling of the population in Raleigh, if water use dropped to 110 gallons per person per day in 2050 that would only be 99 million gallons per day- far below the expected capacity of the system. Through water efficiency the city will be able to have reliable water and the community resource that the Little River is will be protected for generations to come.
Little River Cleanup
Join friends and family for a day at the water's edge
The Little River is a tributary to the Neuse River that is as beautiful as it is sensitive so we wanted to help people explore and get to know this beautiful section of the watershed while contributing to the community by
cleaning up the trash and recyclables in this area.
The cleanup we organized on June 12, 2010 pulled an estimated 160 pounds of garbage from the river in about two hours and introduced us to some great new people and places!
“The key to a reliable and
predictable water supply is a healthy river, not a dead river. We
need 21st century solutions like water efficiency and green
infrastructure to ensure a future of water security and river health for the Little
River and its communities.”
