Rise in Durham development having adverse effect on local waterways

The Durham City-County Planning Commission could recommend approval for another development near Lick Creek. Some residents want them to say no.

“The visibility in that water is zero!” said Pam Andrews. “It's very alarming to the citizens of this town, very alarming.”

The bright orange sediment was lighting up the creek in southeastern Durham County on Monday. It's a phenomenon that local residents say is caused by construction runoff. Andrews has started to document changes to local waterways.

“The creek looks like tomato soup, just filled with sediment and not the way that a healthy running creek should be,” said Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop.

Krop met with residents Friday to visit sites along the watershed, taking samples and measuring the turbidity of the water.

That's in an area with nearly a dozen active construction sites and another 280-acre project on the table.

“Each project individually, it might not seem like a big deal," said Krop. "But if you look at the entire scope and the impacts together, then this is potentially the straw that breaks the creek's back.”

Krop says the community may be growing faster than the environment can handle.

A look at the stream shows the erosive soils in the water. Sediment pollution can have negative impacts on drinking water, including raising the cost of treatment and this creek flows into the Falls Lake Reservoir – a nutrient-sensitive drinking water supply for Raleigh.

The state has already added Lick Creek to a list of impaired water bodies and Durham reported excess levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as below-healthy levels of aquatic life.

The Durham city-county planning commission will consider the rezoning application at Tuesday's meeting, which will be a public hearing starting at 5:30 p.m. "This site has several environmental features," Alexander Cahill said in an email. "As such, we anticipate this being a part of the Planning Commissions deliberation."