Water, with the crud that it can carry, flows downhill and will forever more. So when it comes to the quality of water that is a vital public resource, downhill users are forever at the mercy of their uphill neighbors.
Which of those neighbors would be so crass as to just toss their dirty water and let the chumps below pay to clean it up?
That is, let's acknowledge, a serious oversimplication of the position taken by some in Durham with respect to water flowing into Falls Lake. But sadly, there's a kernel of truth.
Falls is the drinking water source for Raleigh and a large part of Wake County. Its quality is impaired; a costly clean-up is pending. The lake extends into Durham County, and the city of Durham generates a goodly amount of the pollution that finds its way into the lake's upper reaches. That's despite controls on development in areas around the lake's borders.
The question: When bills for the clean-up come due, who pays? Raleigh officials have agreed in principle to help meet the expense, but just so long as the burden doesn't "significantly" shift away from "those creating water quality impacts." In other words, Durham, get your wallet out. Did we mention that the Bull City doesn't drink any Falls Lake water?
That translates to some in Durham as pouring money down the drain. Council member Eugene Brown called it "facing a burden without a benefit" and declared, "It would be a travesty."
Not exactly. The travesty would be if a city could simply turn its back on the hardship and expense that its inability to safeguard a water resource imposed on downstream neighbors.
Ironically, Durham finds itself hoping that cities and towns in the Haw River watershed upstream of Jordan Lake take their responsibilities seriously to help clean up Jordan, which Durham does use. The city also faces large expenses to control polluted runoff affecting Jordan, and that could be pushing Falls expenses further down the priority list.
Still, the operating rule has to be that all such pollution is best nipped as nearly as possible in the bud. Raleigh has the same set of obligations with respect to treated wastewater it discharges into the Neuse River. What would the downstream towns -- Smithfield, Goldsboro, Kinston, New Bern -- do if there were no duty to clean up municipal mess before it was turned loose?
The principle couldn't be clearer, and it means that the Falls Lake clean-up has to get Durham's backing, financially and otherwise.
