Neighbors to a lake

Chatham County wants Cary, in Wake County, to hold its horses on annexing more land across the border until planning rules are finalized for development near Jordan Lake. That's sensible, and the Cary Town Council and city administration says they are likely to cooperate.

At the same time, though, Chatham County seems doesn't seem inclined to slow its galloping pace of development approvals in the same northeast corner of the county. Some of those projects are of massive proportions. Several residents of the older Fearrington Village subdivision told the state Division of Water Quality last week about their concerns over Briar Chapel, a 1,589-acre development that would be built partially in the Jordan Lake watershed.

Overdevelopment in the Triangle region is a worry, but heavy building in watersheds is of particular concern. Development in that corner of Chatham County can affect the lake, which provides drinking water for Chatham residents and also to a number of towns in western Wake County, and one day to Durham and perhaps Orange County.

Growth doesn't just guarantee pollution pressures on Jordan Lake. It adds people, who need more water. Chatham can't afford to foul its own water source, and it should do a careful job of protecting the lake's quality out of concern for the county's neighbors.

The state is considering mandatory protection, and its proposal is overdue. Meanwhile, Chatham needs to move with dispatch. Its rules must be tough enough to prevent Jordan Lake's degradation, and to counter the crush of new homes and commercial development already spilling grimy runoff into a stressed reservoir.