Sediment levels in Durham’s Lick Creek are rising. So are emotions about development.
Nearby construction work is often causing sediment levels in Lick Creek and its tributaries to significantly exceed state standards, the Neuse riverkeeper told Durham’s City Council Thursday.
Riverkeeper Samantha Krop said she took samples at four different places on various occasions between October and January. Of 17 total water samples, 12 had turbidity levels above the state’s standard of 50 nephelometric turbidity units. NTUs are a measure of the cloudiness of water. The World Health Organization recommends that the turbidity of household water be kept below 1 NTU.
“This is happening in an ongoing fashion across significant parts of the watershed in Lick Creek,” Krop said.
Krop’s presentation was the latest sign of concern from environmental groups and local residents who are alarmed about the pace of development in the 22.9-mile Lick Creek watershed in Southeast Durham. The area is part of the county’s Triassic Basin, where soil is a fine, reddish clay that is lighter than that found in many other parts of North Carolina, posing challenges for developers and county officials charged with controlling sediment.
Nearby residents often say that sediment leaves Lick Creek and its tributaries with a red-brown color that looks like tomato soup.
Development around Lick Creek has significantly increased in recent years. As of November, 3,625 residential units had been approved there since 2021 — more than had been approved in the entire preceding decade. Thousands more units were planned.
When clay reaches Lick Creek, Krop said, it harms fish and plants that live there while also heating up the water column. That, in turn, can increase bacteria and pathogens in the creek, which flows into Falls Lake.
“If we don’t care at all about aquatic species, we should care about our own communities and ourselves,” Krop said.
Krop asked the council to take several actions. She said the updated development ordinance should prevent developers from double-counting required vegetation areas around waterways as tree preservation areas. And she asked for a new comprehensive study of Lick Creek, which was last done in 2009.
A pause in development?
Perhaps most controversially, Krop called for the City Council to pause the annexation of land from the county until it can enact more text amendments that prevent sediment from reaching Lick Creek. Developers typically try to get property annexed into the city in order to increase density by connecting neighborhoods to city water and sewer.
“I want to be clear that this doesn’t mean no more development, it means a pause in this part of the watershed until impacts can be better understood, stronger regulations can be enforced and until we can make a promise that more development in the future will also come with a promise to uphold the Clean Water Act,” Krop said.
Durham Assistant City Attorney Don O’Toole argued that the clay reaching Lick Creek is not sediment and, thus, does not represent a violation of water regulations.
“That is definitely not true and I don’t want any city resident to be misled that we are in violation of the Clean Water Act because that is not true,” O’Toole said.
Krop responded by saying she documents and reports violations throughout the Neuse River watershed and that if sediment is reaching the waterway, it is a violation.
Mayor Elaine O’Neal invited Krop to present her findings to the City Council.
Council member Leonardo Williams argued that a pause on development in the area is unrealistic. The areas in question are already zoned for housing, Williams said.
“There’s still going to be development, it’s just going to be by-right. So there will be houses built, it’s just going to be less dense and it will be more exclusive and more expensive,” Williams said.
Council member DeDreana Freeman asked staff members to better describe what steps the city is taking to prevent erosion in the fragile area.
“Where I’m struggling is that rather than trying to figure out how to line up to make sure that none of those particles are in the water, we’re trying to figure out how to defend ourselves,” Freeman said.
Ryan Eaves, manager of the county’s Stormwater & Erosion Control Division, said an update to the city’s unified development ordinance will require developers in areas with Triassic soil to use chemicals that make sediment heavier, mandate that developers hold water for at least four days and require larger stormwater ponds.
“We express similar concerns about what’s happening out there. Some of the questions are about what we can well and truly do about it when considering the amount of development and the soils and the kind of rain events that we’re seeing,” Eaves said.
Eaves also told Freeman that larger stormwater retention ponds would be helpful to deal with the heavier downfalls the area is seeing, which scientists attribute to climate change.
Increasing erosion-control efforts
Durham is trying to change its sedimentation and erosion control rules in response to concerns raised about the Lick Creek Watershed.
Planning and stormwater staff want the power to issue Stop Work Orders to enforce erosion control standards. They also proposed stricter erosion-control rules on sites containing Triassic soils.
The county would be the first in North Carolina to require, not simply recommend, the use of flocculants — materials that help particles clump together for easier removal from water — according to Eaves.
“I know from the state sedimentation specialist that we’re opening a door and she’s kind of waiting to see what we do and expecting others to follow,” Eaves said in February.
The state Sedimentation Control Commission was in favor of the proposed amendments when they were first presented in November. The changes sailed through the Planning Commission, Board of County Commissioners and City Council in a series of unanimous votes this year.
The state commission must sign off on the new rules at its May 23 meeting for them to go into effect.
Unprecedented presentation?
Some City Council members argued that Krop’s presentation was inappropriately timed because it represented an advocacy group coming before the council at a work session and was not tied to a specific debate.
Mayor Pro Tem Mark Middleton called the presentation “an amicus brief” for Sound Rivers and said it was intended to sway council rather than simply provide information. By allowing the environmental organization to give such a presentation, he added, the council was opening the door to other groups that want to make their case.
“If it’s good enough for Sound Rivers, then it will be good enough for the Proud Boys when they want to come lecture us about something,” Middleton said.
Since her election in 2021, O’Neal said, some of the issues coming before the council have left her feeling like she’s in kindergarten again. O’Neal said it’s important that she and other council members have a chance to better understand complex issues.
This story was produced with financial support from 1Earth Fund, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.
This story was originally published March 9, 2023 at 6:28 PM with the headline "Sediment levels in Durham’s Lick Creek are rising. So are emotions about development.."
