Neuse RIVERKEEPER©

The Neuse River Foundation recently celebrated our 26^th year of river research and protection.  We have a long history of Riverkeepers® who have provided constant vigilance and a strong voice for the protection of the Neuse River under the certification of the Waterkeeper® Alliance.

WHAT WE ARE PROUDEST OF

• In 2002, NRF Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks uncovered 20 violations at Raleigh’s sewage treatment plant—the largest discharger to the Neuse River. According to Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, “it was the Riverkeeper who alerted us to extensive problems which existed at our waste treatment plant, problems which had not been brought to our attention by then plant management.”  Since 2003, Raleigh has invested more than $40 million in plant upgrades and provided free drinking water to 32 families (many with low income) whose wells were unknowingly contaminated from the over application of sludge by Raleigh Public Utilities.
• In 2000 and 2003, NRF challenged 25 discharge permits of repeat violators to enforce compliance with the Clean Water Act, leading to additional provisions in 22 out of the 25 permits challenged. There are now SEVEN discharge pipes that are no longer discharging effluent into the river due to the direct actions of the NRF. In March 2006, NRF worked to eliminate sludge and chemical discharges from Raleigh’s Water Treatment Plant to Falls Lake—a drinking water supply for 400,000 Wake County Citizens.
• Our annual Neuse River Clean-up, which spans 62 river miles from Falls Dam to below Smithfield, has to date encouraged 776 citizens to take a more active role in cleaning up the Neuse River. More than 53,000 pounds of trash has been removed from the Neuse River and all access points in the last four years alone! NRF is now working with the Eckerd Youth Camp to involve disadvantaged minority teenagers in the clean up.
• The NRF volunteer Air Force has documented hundreds of Clean Water Act violations on NC hog farms. The illegal spraying of raw waste has helped bring national attention to the unethical practices of hog industry, which have led to important legal actions and various reforms, including a settlement agreement (with Waterkeeper Alliance) reached in January 2006 with Smithfield Foods—changing waste disposal practices on 275 NC hog farms.
• In 2004, NRF Riverkeeper’s defeated the largest pollution trade ever proposed for US waters by preventing the Town of Butner from discharging up to 61,130 lbs/yr of additional nitrogen into Falls Lake. NRF helped generate more than 1000 public comments opposing the plan and turned out more than 200 people at two public hearings. More importantly, a pollution reduction strategy is now being developed for Falls Lake, rather than increasing additional pollutants to one of the most important drinking water reservoirs in NC.                  
• As a result of recent attention on Falls Lake, Upper Neuse Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks encouraged Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker to make Falls Lake a key platform issue for his 2005 reelection campaign by working with local and state wide land trusts on a land acquisition plan to protect water quality in Falls Lake and the entire upper Neuse watershed. Raleigh has since invested $1 million dollars into the plan. Mayor Meeker received 70% of the popular vote. Riverkeeper Larry Baldwin also obtained a written agreement with Mayor Tom Bayliss and the town of New Bern to permanently retire 53,000 lbs/yr of nitrogen credits, which can never be traded or sold throughout the basin.
• Over the last two years, NRF volunteers and the New Bern Canoe Club have taken more than 240 disadvantaged minority youth on paddling trips on the Neuse River.
• In 2005, NRF developed an educational project called “Junior Riverkeepers”, as an expansion of our very successful Little Riverkeeper education program (begun in the late 1990s), in conjunction with Craven County Schools and the NC State University’s Aquatic Lab to conduct water quality monitoring and training for all Craven County eighth grade students and teachers. More than 800 students have participated in the program in the last two years. More than 100 elementary teachers in four counties are now using NRF’s “Little Riverkeeper” environmental education training manuals. We continue to get more requests.
• NRF has assisted statewide water quality initiatives/legislation for Clean Water Lobby Day. NRF actively recruited 122 of the 300 constituents who attended Clean Water Lobby Day over the last two years. NRF Riverkeeper’s frequently provide NC environmental lobbyist with technical water quality information from local districts most relevant to NC legislators. NRF Riverkeeper’s annually attend American River’s Clean Water Lobby Days in Washington DC, providing local constituent representation on numerous water quality issues that no other groups (other than local Riverkeeper’s) in NC provide.
• Most recently, 15 months of tedious stakeholder negotiations finally paid off for Wake County’s new stormwater ordinance. NRF was instrumental in working with the development community to implement perhaps the best stormwater ordinance in the state of NC (using Low Impact Development Practices and volume control), which will help control polluted runoff (fertilizers, oil, gas and pet waste) from further degrading the Neuse River. This is a positive step for controlling pollution impacts from the anticipated 500,000 people who will move to Wake County over the next 20 years and will likely serve as a model ordinance for other communities in NC.  

"The Falls Lake initiative is an exciting new partnership effort to protect drinking water quality by conserving land along the streams and wetlands that feed water supply reservoirs.  The genesis for the idea began with the Neuse River Foundation’s Dean Naujoks, who saw the value of using land preservation to protect water quality, and helped bring together North Carolina land trusts and local governments to pursue a coordinated conservation strategy."
Reid Wilson, Executive Director
Conservation Trust for North Carolina