Description:  This bill would require all discharge pipes to be labeled with who the pipe belongs to and who to call if there is a problem. This is a small ask but would go a long way to improve monitoring and drastically speed up response time for when/if emergencies at the discharge site occur. 

What Catawba Riverkeeper Says: Having wastewater discharges labeled will greatly help the public know who is discharging into our waters and who to call in the event of a problem or emergency with the pipe. 

The link to the bill page can be found here.

Bill Status: Currently with the Senate Agriculture committee, has a subcommittee hearing scheduled for Wednesday, March 13 at noon.

What You Can Do: Look up your State Senator here and send them an email, introducing yourself, saying what road you live off, that you are a constituent, and that you support transparency between wastewater dischargers and the public!

Description: This bill would provide a one-time income tax credit to a property owner who allows for public trails on their private property. This credit would be equal to 10 cents per square foot. 

What Catawba Riverkeeper Says: We support this bill because it dovetails beautifully with our push for enhanced vegetative buffers across our basin. The buffer ordinance we are pushing for allows for permeable surface trails within the buffer but our ordinance would only apply to new construction. We see this bill as a tool to pay property owners for putting in buffers.

The link to the bill page can be found here.

Bill Status: The bill passed the House UNANIMOUSLY and now only needs a final vote before the full senate.

What You Can Do: Look up your State Senator here and send them an email, introducing yourself, saying what road you live off, that you are a constituent, and you support the expansion of trails in your community. 

Description: This bill sets punishments for tire dumping as well as illegal transportation of tires. We are doing all we can to take tires out of our waters (over 100 were taken out of a 1/10 of a mile sand bar Sugar Creek last year alone), this bill will go a long way to keeping tires from being dumped. 

The chemicals that leach out of tires and into our waters and aquatic life are known carcinogens and more. While society used to believe that tires were good fish habitat, it turns out that tires are actually killing them and polluting us in the process.

The link to the bill page can be found here.

Bill Status: The bill is with the Judiciary Committee and is not currently scheduled for a committee hearing.

What You Can Do: Look up your State Senator here and send them an email, introducing yourself, saying what road you live off of, that you are a constituent, and you don't want to see any new tires in our water. If you have volunteered with us and/or ever removed a tire from the water, share that story too! If you have a picture of you doing it, even better!