All State Policies: North Carolina
Who’s Responsible?
Below are short descriptions of relevant state agencies/departments by policy topic, followed by more information on specific policies.
Drinking Water: North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ)’s Division of Water Resource’s Public Water Supply Section implements the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and is responsible for regulating public water systems. There are nearly 6,000 regulated public water systems in the state. Around 75% of the state’s population lives in areas served by community water systems. The mission of the Section is, “To promote public health by ensuring that safe, potable water is available in adequate quantities to the residents and visitors of North Carolina served by public water systems by assuring that such systems are properly located, constructed, operated, and maintained.” The North Carolina Division of Water Infrastructure was created in 2013 and provides financial assistance for projects that improve water quality.
Bolstering Clean Water Act Protections: The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ)’s Division of Water Resource‘s (DWR) drafted a Regulatory Impact Analysis of the rules related to discharges to isolated wetlands and isolated waters, and discharges to federally non-jurisdictional wetlands and classified surface waters. According to the analysis, an estimated 30.6% of wetlands in North Carolina may have lost federal jurisdiction as a result of changes to federal rules. This is equivalent to approximately 1.3 million acres. The Water Planning Section of DWR develops the standards, rules, and management strategies to protect water quality, carry out water supply planning, and provide guidance to local water systems. The Rules Review Commission reviews and approves rules adopted by state agencies.
Policies
Drinking Water
House Bill 1087 Water/Wastewater Public Enterprise Reform
07/01/2020
This Act requires certain distressed water and wastewater systems to undergo review of infrastructure, organizational, and financial management, and provides funding for the Viable Utility Reserve to provide grant money for local government units. The Viable Utility Reserve is an account within the Water Infrastructure Fund and is fully funded by State appropriated funds. It also provides a statutory process for merger and dissolution of water and wastewater systems and provides funds for the Southern Regional Area Health Education Center and for water resources projects, including flood storage capacity enhancement projects. The bill included a $9 million appropriation.
North Carolina’s Statewide Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Master Plan: The Road to Viability
2017
This plan was developed by the State Water Infrastructure Authority. The Authority was created by the General Assembly in 2013 to assess the state’s water and wastewater infrastructure needs, the role of the state in funding needed infrastructure, and the funding programs currently available to local governments and utilities. The Plan was created for owners and operators of water and wastewater utilities and systems that serve the public, focused on organizational management, infrastructure management, and financial management.
Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2015 (HB 97)
2015
The General Assembly enacted House Bill 97 which established Merger/Regionalization Feasibility Grants to “broaden the use of grant funds to encourage water and wastewater utilities to become more viable and proactive in the management and financing of their systems. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality uses these grants to provide funding for studies to evaluate the potential consolidation of two or more water or wastewater systems into one system and the potential physical interconnection with another system for regional wastewater treatment or regional water supply. As of 2018, 18 grants totaling $875,000 have been awarded to localities around the state.” (p. 180 of the Bill).
According to US Water Alliance, “The State Water Infrastructure Authority worked with the legislature to define affordability in statute. The Authority then developed a set of indicators and benchmarks… intended to better distinguish between utilities that can least afford a critical infrastructure project, and those that can afford to incur some amount of debt or obligate some amount of funding toward it. The Authority developed an approach to prioritize communities that: 1) have smaller populations; 2) are comparatively worse than state benchmarks for five key economic indicators: population change, poverty rate, median household income (MHI), unemployment rate, and property valuation per capita; 3) have current monthly utility rates (independent of MHI) that are higher than the state median; and 4) will demonstrate a project cost per connection that is higher than the state median. This restructured approach enables state funding resources to benefit more communities by combining loans and grants based on affordability while acknowledging that full grant funding of projects is, in some cases, still the most appropriate approach when rates are the most extreme in the state.”
General Statute 159G-70 (State Water Infrastructure Authority)
2013
The Authority was created as an independent body made of nine members within the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The main responsibility of the Authority is to award funding for water and wastewater infrastructure projects. The authority is also responsible for developing a state water infrastructure master plan, recommending ways to maximize the use of available loan and grant funding resources, examining best and emerging practices, and assessing the need for a troubled system protocol. The authority must meet at least four times per year. The Division of Water Infrastructure staff provides all support for the authority.
Environmental Justice
Healthy Rivers
Wetland Rule Change: 15A NCAC 02H 0.1400 et seq.; 15A NCAC 02H 0.1301
3/12/2022
Revisions to the Isolated Wetlands and Waters Rule 15A NCAC 02H .1301 and adoption of Non-jurisdictional Wetlands and Waters Rules 15A NCAC 02H .1401-.1405 authorized NCDEQ to reinstate a permitting mechanism for wetlands and waters that were no longer protected by the Clean Water Act after passage of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (aka Dirty Water Rule). The changes to 15A NCAC 02H .1301 include defining “isolated wetland,” “isolated waters,” and “project,” and 15A NCAC 02H .1401 changes included adding a process for determining the boundary and extent of non-jurisdictional wetlands and requiring a permit or Certificate of Coverage (COC) for activities not considered “deemed permitted.”
