I’ve noticed as I’ve become more aware of my surroundings, and the areas that I have become more familiar with in this big city of Charlotte, that there is so much trash. Yes it partially from littering but something that most people don’t think about is stormwater pollution. When someone looks at stormwater, they don’t see much and that’s because it’s been eroded away causing things like offside sediment. It only affects things after a big storm because the soil is wet. Since North Carolina has red clay, there’s no grip so it makes it easier for rills to happen. Something that gets affected most by stormwater are the areas that are around construction sites and then neighborhoods that are in different phases through construction. Because when it’s a developmental site, soil is getting moved all over the place and can cause major disturbances in the area especially with water. Water is the biggest issue here because sediment can get into and clog waterways, chemicals can get into the water that people drink and cause people to get sick for short term or even maybe long term. I would like to request that you and any other volunteers would help in someway by preventing stormwater pollution. This would be helpful because it could spread the word about how important stopping erosion especially in Western North Carolina.
Solutions and Benefits
I was hoping that there could be a way or even ways that we could implement something to be proactive with stormwater measures so that no animals or humans could get sick from the polluted water that is being consumed. Some of those ways being that we have a community cleanup day near creeks or near more effected areas. We could also have educational seminars for people that around the community and near areas like construction sites to be aware of what they’re looking at and if its good or bad. Some benefits from having these solutions would be that people in rural area’s like Western North Carolina could easily spot if something didn’t seem right with their drinking water because they are more educated then they were before and also that they could feel safe about their kids just being outside in general especially near running water.
Thank you,
Kenley Triplett North Carolina Clean Water Asheville Office 1070 Tunnel Rd. Bldg 4, Ste. 1 828-251-1291