Category: Watersheds, Wetlands & Stormwater (Page 3 of 15)

Financing Nutrient Management in North Carolina

September 27, 2018 / Erin Riggs / 0 Comments

The EFC Enters Third Year of Considering Financing Strategies for Nutrient Management in the Jordan Lake Watershed.

In 2016, the North Carolina legislature commissioned a six-year nutrient management study to be done through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the purpose of reevaluating the nutrient management strategies for the Jordan Lake and Falls Lake watersheds.

The Environmental Finance Center (EFC) is one of more than a dozen teams working on the study, and our work is focused on the legislative directive to “review the costs and benefits of existing nutrient management strategies,” so that the State can modify such strategies in order to “share costs on an equitable basis.” The first three years of the six-year study are focused on Jordan Lake, and the last three years will be focused on Falls Lake. Continue reading

Growing Economies and Shrinking Coastlines: Financing Wider Beaches

September 7, 2018 / Austin Thompson / 1 Comment

As of 2014, NOAA estimated that about 40 percent of the US population lives in a county on the coast and these coastal counties are responsible for 56 million jobs. As a nation, we have developed heavily along the coastlines, building large and valuable assets on property that may erode. As communities along the southeastern coastline have experienced and can likely attest to, there are very few viable options for slowing coastal erosion that do not either cause more erosion downdrift or damage to coastal ecosystems. To date, most communities have found beach nourishment to be the most viable option. So what is beach nourishment and how do we pay for it? Read on for answers to these questions and more: Continue reading

Are Floodplain Buyouts a Smart Investment for Local Governments?

June 8, 2018 / Elizabeth Harvell

Guest post by David Salvesen and Christian Kamrath

Hurricane Matthew, which struck North Carolina in October 2016, reminded us of just how vulnerable North Carolina is to flooding. Torrential rains caused severe flooding that breached levees, closed major roads and inundated entire communities. Thousands of homes in the eastern part of the state were destroyed. Continue reading

Act Locally, Save Federally: The National Flood Insurance CRS Program

May 10, 2018 / Jeffrey Hughes / 0 Comments

The UNC Environmental Finance Center (EFC) typically focuses on the role of local governments in directly providing and funding basic community environmental services such as water, wastewater, stormwater, and solid waste management. For example, the EFC recently released a set of resources related to local government stormwater fees that local programs use to fund their stormwater services. These types of resources help local governments raise funds for critical environmental protection activities but there are other ways that local governments can play a role in supporting environmental finance.

Recent news out of Brunswick County, North Carolina, highlights the fact that local governments can have a significant impact on environmental expenses paid to other branches of government as well. Continue reading

The New Kid on the Block: Carrboro’s Stormwater Management Utility

April 19, 2018 / Erin Riggs / 0 Comments

How Carrboro’s creation of a Stormwater Management Utility exemplifies the increasing need for stormwater finance options.

Effective July 1, 2017, the Town of Carrboro followed in the footsteps of local governments across North Carolina, such as the City of Hendersonville, by creating its first Stormwater Management Utility. According to the Staff Report, Carrboro has experienced an increase in severe storms affecting its area, as well as an increase in state and federal requirements for better and more intensive stormwater management, creating an increasing finance conundrum. Both the Town’s current National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), Phase II permit, and North Carolina’s Jordan Lake rules require that the Town meet certain water quality criteria. Based on recent studies conducted by the Town, it is estimated that it will cost Carrboro, a town with a population of just over 21,000 residents, roughly $4 million over the next decade to comply with the requirements of the Jordan Lake rules. Continue reading

Category: Watersheds, Wetlands & Stormwater (Page 3 of 15)

Financing Nutrient Management in North Carolina

The EFC Enters Third Year of Considering Financing Strategies for Nutrient Management in the Jordan Lake Watershed.

Growing Economies and Shrinking Coastlines: Financing Wider Beaches

Are Floodplain Buyouts a Smart Investment for Local Governments?

Act Locally, Save Federally: The National Flood Insurance CRS Program

The New Kid on the Block: Carrboro’s Stormwater Management Utility

How Carrboro’s creation of a Stormwater Management Utility exemplifies the increasing need for stormwater finance options.

Subscribe

Topics

Authors

Twitter: efcatunc

Blogroll

Connect with the EFC