LAKE JAMES ENVIRONMENTAL ASSOCIATION - OUR HISTORY
- The Lake James Environmental Association (LJEA) is dedicated to the preservation of Lake James and it's tributary waters. The association was formed in 1973 to oppose the construction of a proposed waste water treatment plant designed to discharge three million gallons of treated sewage daily into the Catawba River just upstream of Lake James. As a result of our successful opposition, the EPA issued an environmental impact statement concluding that there was no technical justification for this location and denied the discharge permit. The plant was relocated so as not discharge into Lake James.
- We, the members of the association, continue to monitor discharge permits, visit and monitor existing treatment plants, attend public hearings on subjects impacting Lake James, participate in ''Clean Sweep", and report violations to the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
- During 1995 and 1996, the Lake James Stakeholders Committee from Burke and McDowell Counties met with a consultant for 18 meetings to develop zoning ordinances regulating shoreline development. We were active members of this Committee. As a result of that committee action, both Burke and McDowell Counties adopted ordinances requiring riparian buffers along the lake shoreline and Burke County adopted a subdivision ordinance restricting future development around Lake James.
- We have been active for several years in promoting the acquisition of additional land for the purpose of expanding Lake James State Park. Park expansion will be a valuable resource for many North Carolinians as it frequently is at or above capacity.
- A major ongoing project is the expansion of Pisgah National Forest down to and including the shoreline around Lake James. While this is a long term effort, it would be a significant asset to both Burke and McDowell Counties by removing the watershed from being developed.
- A continuing project is monitoring and carefully assessing the issues involved in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Project No. 2232, relicensing of Duke Power Company's Catawba/Wateree hydroelectric plants and the approval of the Duke Power Company Shoreline Management Plan and Maps. These are significant events that will largely determine the future of Lake James and the Catawba River for the next 30 to 50 years, depending upon the length of the new license. These events are of interest to waterfront homeowners and others who use and enjoy Lake James.
- In the past year, the Marion City and McDowell County governments mutually agreed to extend sewer service to the Pleasant Gardens community located Northwest of Marion. In spite of compelling environmental counterarguments, the county commissioners marshaled sufficient community support to approved the routing of the added sewage effluent to the Catawba River Waste Water Treatment Plant that ultimately discharges into Lake James. We were unable to sway that unfortunate decision by reasoned logic or by willingness to help raise the added cost of a more environmentally responsible alternative. By a split vote of 3 to 2, the county decided to go ahead with the expanded sewer service at the Catawba River WWTP. In response to the county contention that the increased effluent will have little or no detrimental effect on the lake, we now plan to take monthly water quality samples in the Catawba River side of the lake in addition to the Catawba River immediately above and below the WWTP. Armed with actual sampling data, we will be in position to more forcefully influence the county and convince them to reroute the added sewage to a plant that bypasses Lake James.
- With the planned increase in sewage effluent, population and industrial growth upstream of the lake, and development of the shoreline itself, the lake will be burdened with ever increasing levels of polluting nutrients. As nutrient levels increase, water quality decreases and at some added nutrient level, algal blooms become a recurring nuisance, and taken to the logical extreme, become toxic and a threat to people, animals and fish, much as has occurred at Lake Santeetlah over the past 10 years. To quantify the effects of increased nutrients levels, and respond accordingly, we are establishing and managing a citizen based water-sampling program called the Lake James Volunteer Water Information Network (VWIN). We expect to have our VWIN program fully funded and operational well before the planned sewer expansion is completed.