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N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources

NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Water Quality - Program Development

Water Quality
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Program Development Unit

The Program Development Unit develops new and revised wetland-related procedures, policies, and rules for the Division's wetland, stream, and buffer permitting programs with the goal of improving the program's overall consistency, effectiveness, and efficiency. 

Staff provide technical support for a variety of projects within the Surface Water Protection Section of the Division of Water Quality.  Professional expertise in aquatic ecosystem structure and function are used to provide data for management decisions, SWPS policies, project reviews and approvals, enforcement actions, and evaluation of wetland status and trends.  The main responsibilities of the PDU are to:

  • Develop new and improved policies to more efficiently implement the 401 Certification and Isolated Wetland Permitting programs to ensure that dredge and fill activities are consistent with the Clean Water Act and related state statutes;
  • Develop new and improved policies to more efficiently implement the Neuse River and Tar-Pamlico buffer rules to protect buffers along waterbodies throught these river basins;
  • Continue to develop a wetlands monitoring program in North Carolina;
  • Conduct watershed-level monitoring for the Ecosystem Enhancement Program in NC;
  • Conduct and coordinate review of FERC applications;
  • Conduct other activities related to wetland and stream fill throughout the state.

 

Recent areas of research in the PDU include:

Headwater Stream Biology
Headwater Stream Spatial Dataset Development
NC Wetland Assessment Method (NC WAM)
Unique Wetland identification and classification
Watershed Assessment Team
Wetlands Monitoring
Assessing Impacts due to Small Impoundments in N.C.

 

Webpage maintained by Susan Gale.  Last updated June 22, 2011
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