New reservoir's protection too lax, Raleigh leaders say

Raleigh's desire to move forward with plans to tap a new water source in eastern Wake County is forcing city leaders to accept pollution controls that they say are inadequate.

The Raleigh City Council recently endorsed limiting residential development to one house per two acres in the watershed "critical area" surrounding the planned Little River reservoir between Rolesville and Wendell.

But this past summer, the Wake County commissioners rejected city and county staff recommendations to require at least three acres for each new house within about a half-mile of the lake. The proposal was aimed at reducing the risk of polluting the future water source.

"What we've done isn't sufficient," Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker said after the City Council's recent vote. The development rules are "similar to the ones on Falls Lake that have allowed that water quality to be compromised."

Meeker said he voted for the rules because they are better than nothing. But he thinks they won't be enough to satisfy federal and state regulators who will decide whether Raleigh can build the 1,100-acre reservoir to help slake fast-growing Wake's thirst.

It's the last water-supply reservoir planned for Wake County. The lake would provide 17 million gallons of drinking water a day for Raleigh and towns of northeast Wake.

The city estimates it will need the additional water by 2020, so it must begin building the lake by 2017. The permitting process takes years and requires the Army Corps of Engineers and several state agencies to sign off.

Raleigh and Wake County leaders disagree about how strict the development rules for the 6,237-acre Little River watershed must be to get regulatory approval.

In July, Wake commissioners rejected the three-acre minimum, which had been approved by Raleigh, the Wake Planning Board and the towns of Wake Forest, Zebulon and Wendell.

The revised rules, adopted by the City Council last week and the county commissioners last month, limit development in the critical area to one dwelling per two acres. That is the maximum density the state allows in predominantly undeveloped reservoir watersheds.

The rules also prohibit further town annexations in the watershed.

Joe Bryan, chairman of the county commissioners, said he never heard a persuasive argument about why the larger lot sizes are necessary.

"How much do you want to give up people's property rights without any technical data to back it up?" he asked.

The agreement states that the bodies will adopt more stringent rules if regulators say they are necessary.

"Let the bureaucrat come forward and say why you're going to deny a permit when all the standards have been more than met," Bryan said.

Bill Holman, director of state policy at Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, said he expects regulators will find the current watershed rules inadequate. He said building a new reservoir often requires ordinances that are stricter than the minimum state requirements.

"One of the big things that delays these sorts of projects is that the standards are inadequate," he said.

Holman said Raleigh and Wake leaders need only look to Falls Lake to realize the importance of strong watershed protections. The lake -- which has the same restrictions just approved for the Little River Reservoir -- is now listed among the state's impaired reservoirs. Raleigh will have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up its primary drinking water source.

"It would be foolish to pay $250 million or more on a new water supply and not have the necessary stormwater rules to protect it," Holman said.

Meeker acknowledged that it would be difficult to get consensus on tougher density rules, but he said the council and commissioners should consider adding other stormwater protections.

Meeker, a Democrat, also said he hopes a leadership change on the Board of Commissioners will increase the chances that the rules will be revised. Democrats took control of the Wake commissioners from Republicans this month and will hold the chairmanship for the first time since 2002.

But Bryan, the departing Republican chairman, noted that only one seat on the board changed hands, and the July and October votes on the Little River watershed rules were unanimous.

"That's 7-0," he said. "And six of us will be back at the table."