BANFF Tickets on Sale Now
BANFF Tickets on Sale Now
For decades, the Town of Lake Lure has been in violation of its water quality permit, polluting the Broad River downstream of Lake Lure Dam. Nineteen years ago, an engineering firm told the town that it needed to rebuild its sewage treatment system. But the town has enjoyed leniency from regulators, and now, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has proposed to waive fines and allow the town to exceed its limits for five more years while it addresses system issues that have pervaded for decades.
Broad Riverkeeper David Caldwell says the new draft agreement is too lenient, and continuing to let the town get away with exceeding its pollution limits without substantial deadlines for the reduction of that pollution will cause undue harm to downstream communities and a river that is already listed as impaired.
“We appreciate DEQ’s effort to work with the town on problems with its wastewater system, but the town appears to have little incentive to avoid additional permit violations if DEQ is simply going to waive any fines it issues. This status quo is not working,” Caldwell writes in a letter to the regulatory agency. “DEQ needs to either meaningfully hold the Town accountable for permit violations or ensure the problems are fixed more quickly than what is proposed in the 2026 draft Special Order by Consent (SOC) amendment.”
Water leaving Lake Lure’s wastewater treatment plant and entering the Broad River is high in total suspended solids and ammonia, according to the draft SOC, endangering the health of aquatic life downstream.
In 2007, McGill Associates produced a performance summary document on the Lake Lure wastewater treatment plant, concluding that shortcomings in both the treatment plant and pipes in the sewage collection system were inadequate and required an overhaul.
“Based on a careful evaluation of the Town of Lake Lure’s WWTP and the operational activities of the town’s staff, it is our conclusion that the facilities as they exist today cannot be operated in a manner that will result in consistent compliance with Lake Lure’s NPDES permit,” its report says.
The town was granted an SOC in 2022 after they continued to rack up fines for noncompliance. That noncompliance continues today.
First and foremost, MountainTrue requests that DEQ hold a public meeting to share plans for corrective measures and gather public input on the proposed agreement. Many property owners downstream of the lake feel they have been left out of the process, Caldwell says.
“My greatest concern is not simply that Lake Lure has a wastewater problem. It is how long the Town has known about the problem, how many opportunities it has had to address it, and how often meaningful resolution has been pushed further into the future,” writes downstream property owner Brad Peters. “These issues existed long before Hurricane Helene. While the hurricane undoubtedly complicated infrastructure repairs, it should not become another justification for postponing the resolution of a problem that has been known for decades.”
DEQ is accepting comments on the issue through Monday, November 2. To submit a comment and/or ask for a public meeting, email Kate Shadwell at kate.shadwell@deq.nc.gov. Identify Lake Lure’s proposed amendment to Special Order by Consent No. S20-004 and permits NC0025381 and WQCS00131.
