The CWMTF is an independent
agency housed for administrative purposes in the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR.) An eighteen-member board of trustees
establishes criteria, allocates funds and approves grants, makes
rules, and hires the executive director. Six members are appointed
by the Governor; six, by the General Assembly upon the recommendation
of the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and six, by the General
Assembly upon the recommendation of the Speaker of the House. An
advisory council composed of the Commissioner of Agriculture, Chair
of the Wildlife Resources Commission,
Secretary of DENR, and Secretary of Commerce or their designees
advises the board of trustees.
State agencies, local
governments or other political subdivision of the state, and nonprofit
conservation organizations, such as land trusts, may apply for grants.
Deadlines for applications are June 1 and December 1 of each year.
The Board of Trustees typically meets ten times per year - six times
across the state and four times in Raleigh.
In 2002 the Board has
met or plans to meet in Blowing Rock, Lumberton, Charlotte, Elkin,
Raleigh, Tyrrell County, Ashe County, and Montgomery County.
Moneys from CWMTF may
be used to acquire land or easements for riparian buffers and watersheds;
to restore wetlands, buffers and watershed lands; to repair failing
wastewater treatment systems; to improve stormwater controls and
management practices; for planning, and for administration and staff.
The board works through three principal committees: acquisitions,
infrastructure/wastewater, and restoration/stormwater/planning.
CWMTF applications form
for grants, grant evaluation guidelines, enabling legislation, lists
of the board of trustees, staff directory, and news releases are
available at www.cwmtf.net.
The executive director,
deputy director, senior scientist, administrative officer, public
information officer, and administrative assistant are based in the
central office in Raleigh. Three field representatives cover the
coast, piedmont and mountain regions of the state. A part-time water
quality advisor is home based.
Surface Water Quality
Needs
In its NC 20/20 report,
the North Carolina Progress Board argued that "the myth of
'jobs v. the environment' cannot be supported; states can and do
have strong economies and simultaneously protect the environment."
At this time in our state's development, the connection between
of clean and adequate water supplies and a strong, vibrant economy
has never been greater. Much of North Carolina's vital travel and
tourism industry is founded on clean water. Both the recreational
and commercial fishing industries depend on clean water. The knowledge
workers of our 21st century economy can live anywhere in the world.
They will choose North Carolina if we maintain our high quality
of life and continue to invest in protection and restoration of
water and air quality and in education.
Yet, according to DENR's
Division of Water Quality over 20 percent of North Carolina's surface
waters are polluted or do not support their designated uses. The
Progress Board identified increased stormwater runoff or non-point
source pollution as the state's greatest water quality challenge
over the next twenty years. Protection and restoration of riparian
buffers, streams, and wetlands; best management practices to reduce
urban and agricultural runoff, elimination of straight pipes, repair
of failing septic tanks, stopping sewage spills can prevent and
reduce stormwater pollution.
As required by the Clean
Water Act the Division of Water Quality is developing plans to restore
polluted or impaired waters. Additional regulations may be required.
However, as the General Assembly recognized in 1996, incentives
provided by the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and others will
be needed to restore polluted waters and to protect high quality
waters.
In December 2001 the
NC Center for Public Policy Research analyzed North Carolina's response
to Hurricane Floyd. In "The Aftermath of Hurricane Floyd: Lessons
Learned and Not Learned" the Center made nine recommendations.
Recommendation four endorses the partnership between the Clean Water
Management Trust Fund and DENR's Division of Soil and Water Conservation
to buy out swine lagoons in the 100-year floodplain.
Recommendation six reads,
"The NC General Assembly should fully fund the NC Clean Water
Management Trust Fund with the goal of acquiring floodplains for
open space and retaining wooded areas along the riverfronts…."
CWMTF estimates that
over $10.5 billion is needed to protect and restore surface water
quality in North Carolina.
Progress
As of December 1, 2001
786 applicants had requested over $875 million for water quality
projects. Since 1997 the Board of Trustees have approved 314 grants
for a total of $257.7 million. CWMTF grants have leveraged at least
$350 million in private and other public funds.
The CWMTF and its partners
have helped protect 1685 miles of riparian buffers and preserve
155,510 acres of land. The CWMTF has assisted 67 local governments
with wastewater improvements, funded 57 stream and riparian buffer
restoration projects, funded 21 stormwater projects, and funded
watershed planning projects.
Last calendar year, the
board of trustees of CWMTF approved 79 grants for a total of $46,308,098.
Eighty-five local governments,
state agencies, and land trusts requested $89.6 million from CWMTF
on December 1, 2001. Last November the Board of Trustees deferred
15 projects requesting $22.1 million until this spring. The Board
and staff of CWMTF are reviewing 100 projects requesting $111 million
this winter and spring.
CWMTF's $40 million investment
in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program will leverage $221
million in US Department of Agriculture and $10 million in other
funds over the next six years. The Division of Soil and Water Conservation
will probably request another $5 million from CWMTF to continue
CREP on June 1, 2002.
2001 Examples
CWMTF provided a grant
of $2.75 million to the Division of Coastal Management to help acquire
the 1200-acre Bird Island, the last undeveloped barrier island in
Brunswick County. The State has been negotiating to purchase Bird
Island for about ten years. When the State and the property owner
agreed on a price of $4.2 million last year, CWMTF funds were available
to acquire the property.
CWMTF has provided two
grants totaling $1.7 million to the City of Lumberton to be matched
with local funds to enable the city to separate some 150 combined
stormwater and sewer lines along 40 city blocks and to reduce sewage
spills into the Lumber River. City Manager Todd Powell told the
Board of Trustees at its February 18, 2002 meeting in Lumberton
that CWMTF funds not only have improved water quality but that they
also prevented a moratorium on development. Mr. Powell estimates
that $80 million worth of private investments in hard-pressed Robeson
County were saved by the CWMTF-funded wastewater improvements.
David Bone, Town Manager
of Chadbourn, and Al Leonard, Town Manager of Tabor City, also spoke
at the CWMTF meeting in Lumberton. Both commended CWMTF for assisting
them with wastewater grants of $1.3 million grant and $570,000,
respectively.
As part of its Deep River
Protection efforts the Triangle Land Conservancy acquired the historic
civil war era Endor Iron Furnace on the Deep River in Lee County
last year with CWMTF funds.
CWMTF has provided a series of grants to the Town of Troy to enable
the Town to acquire conservation easements along Densons Creek to
both protect water quality and to provide for a greenway trail.
Last November CWMTF provided a grant of $260,500 to enable the Town
to install ultraviolet lights to disinfect and improve treatment
of its wastewater. The combination of riparian buffers and removal
of chlorine in its wastewater discharge will enable the Town to
ask the Environmental Management Commission to upgrade the classification
of Densons Creek to High Quality Waters (HQW).
CWMTF has provided a
series of grants, including $420,373 last year, to the Catawba Lands
Conservancy to acquire conservation easements along the South Fork
of the Catawba River in Gaston and Lincoln Counties. Miles of the
river have been protected since 1997.
The municipalities in
Gaston County have been working together to consolidate and regionalize
their wastewater treatment and collection systems. CWMTF provided
$2.0 million to Bessemer City to enable it to connect its wastewater
system to the City of Gastonia's. This project will remove a wastewater
discharge and send effluent to Gastonia's advanced wastewater treatment
plant.
The non-profit Haywood
Waterways working with the Haywood County Soil & Water Conservation
District and Southwestern NC Resource Conservation & Development
identified sources of sedimentation in Richland Creek, a major tributary
of Lake Junaluska and the Pigeon River. They requested and received
$677,555 to restore streams and stabilize streambanks from CWMTF
last year.
Recent Legislative Action
The 2001 General Assembly
appropriated $40 million to CWMTF in fiscal year 2001-02 and $70
million in fiscal year 2002-03, as committed by the 2000 General
Assembly.
The 2001 General Assembly
also exempted employees of CWMTF from the provisions of the State
Personnel Act to enable the recruitment and retention of highly
qualified staff and increased the administrative cap of CWMTF to
$1,250,000 or 2% of the cash balance whichever is greater.
The Future
Governor Mike Easley
announced on February 5, 2002 that he was cutting $20.8 million
from the CWMTF to help him plug the projected $900 million shortfall
in the State's 2001-02 budget. This is a 52% cut in CWMTF's 2001
appropriation.
CWMTF has asked the State
Budget Office to honor 16 contracts signed by both grantees and
CWMTF totaling $17.6 million. Four other grantees have signed final
contracts worth $3.6 million, but CWMTF has stopped signing contracts.
CWMTF has sent draft contracts worth $8.8 million to 19 grantees.
At its February 18, 2002
meeting in Lumberton the Board of Trustees by consensus committed
to honor all grants approved by the Board last November - if necessary
out of 2002 appropriation from the General Assembly.
Last year the Board of
Trustees authorized hiring two new field representatives - one to
cover the Cape Fear and Lumber River Basins and one to cover the
Neuse, Tar-Pamlico and Lower Roanoke River Basins - to improve technical
assistance to grantees and to increase monitoring of existing projects.
Hiring new staff has been postponed until the State's budget improves.
The wood products industry
plans to sell large tracts of land in North Carolina and others
states in the next few years. This is an extraordinary opportunity
for land and water conservation.
The 1998 Clean Water
Bond grant funds have largely been spent. Local governments continue
to need state assistance to improve their water, wastewater, stormwater,
and park systems to both protect water quality and to be prepared
for future economic growth.
