For two years Jordan Lake has been full of SolarBee mixers, stirring the water to prevent algae from growing on the surface of the lake. For two years DEQ’s data has shown that those mixers have been unsuccessful in cleaning the drinking water for 300,000 residents of Wake County.
Finally, the Secretary of DEQ has admitted that the mixers are not the solution to cleaning up Jordan and has agreed to end the misguided project. Although this is long overdue and is a step in the right direction, it won’t solve the problem of pollution in the lake. The only way to truly ensure clean drinking water for the people of Wake County is to use a watershed management approach. This means the towns upstream of the lake implement reasonable regulations on development and clean up the water that they’re putting back into the streams and tributaries flowing into Jordan Lake. The first step is for the NC legislature to reinstate the clean up plan they previously put in place.
WakeUP will continue fighting to reinstate that clean up plan and protect Wake County’s clean water. Stay tuned as we SpeakUP for Jordan Lake!