Breaking News } Flash flood watch for Johnston County

Washed Away: Second of three parts:  Money that the state spends on projects to reduce pollution from nitrogen has gone toward improvements far downstream and outside the watersheds of the Triangle's two biggest sources of drinking water: Falls and Jordan lakes.

Washed Away: Third of three parts:  Studies of what seemed a logical solution to the destruction of streams by road builders and developers have found that 20 years of applying common restoration methods - often at public expense - is doing little good.

Creating a viable stream is a difficult challenge. Engineers must consider population, topography, buffer zones and vegetation, among other factors. How well would you do?

The state has spent about $140 million on 79 stream and wetland restoration projects that are failing, need significant repair or are too far away from drinking water sources harmed by development.

State lawmakers late Thursday passed legislation that could put an end to a long string of costly, state-supported fixes of stream restoration projects by shifting to construction methods that hold the companies that build the projects accountable.

There has been a growing mantra among state lawmakers, environmentalists and others to privatize the production of restored streams and wetlands to offset the impacts of development.

A plan developed by the state in 2001 for environmental restoration was a boon to conservation groups that had thousands of acres to sell for mitigation.

Longtime college basketball analyst Billy Packer has called a foul on N.C. environmental enforcers.

Top lawmakers say they need to take a deep look at the state's efforts to restore streams and wetlands because of projects that are failing, long delayed or too far away from the development damage they are intended to offset.

Developers and government regulators say it would be too expensive to significantly monitor the long-term results of stream restoration projects.

In 1999, the state Department of Transportation paid $5.3 million for more than 400 acres of restored and preserved wetland in eastern Pitt County, just north of the Tar River.

Two state audits of environmental restoration sites, which are intended to offset water pollution caused by development, found failing projects and a general lack of accountability.

The groundskeeper in Caddyshack grappled with a gopher. The state of North Carolina is in a battle with beavers.