January 31, 2023 marked the one-year anniversary of a fire that could have resulted in one of the worst explosions in U.S. history according to Winston-Salem fire chief, Trey Mayo. The origin of the fire at Winston Weaver Co.’s fertilizer manufacturing plant in Northern Winston Salem remains unknown. When it was discovered that around 600 tons of ammonium nitrate were being stored at the plant, a voluntary evacuation of the 1-mile area surrounding the plant was issued. 

At YRK’s Annual Meeting last month, seven new board members were voted onto the Board of Directors. You can learn more about them below.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources (DWR) will hold a public hearing on March 16 on a draft Colonial Pipeline wastewater permit (#NC009000). Colonial has applied for the permit to discharge treated wastewater from its 2 million gallon gasoline pipeline leak. The National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Wastewater Discharge permit requested by Colonial will allow the discharge of pumped and treated groundwater contaminated by the spill into North Prong Clark Creek in the Yadkin-Pee Dee River basin. 

Yadkin Riverkeeper (YRK) hosted a community hearing on Wednesday, November 16th at the Atrium Health Education and Events Center in Albemarle. YRK held the hearing to inform the public about the upcoming renewal of Alco-Badin Business Park’s NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems) permit and to share our recommendations for reducing the amount of industrial pollution flowing into Badin Lake and Little Mountain Creek. For more information about the stormwater discharge permit, see our recommendations here.

As part of Waterkeepers Carolina, Yadkin Riverkeeper monitors swimming sites for e.coli during the summer season. This program is part of SwimGuide, an international platform sharing the results of bacteria monitoring at local swimming areas. This past summer YRK sampled 9 areas throughout the watershed and had a 72% pass rate overall. The sampling season runs from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Yadkin Riverkeeper continues to be the leading advocacy voice on issues impacting water quality in the River, its lakes and tributaries. Please see below for an update on YRK’s most pressing advocacy priorities:

On Saturday, September 17th, Warren County residents and supporters came together to remember the legendary protest that took place 40 years ago in 1982. The Warren County Environmental Action Team and the Coley Springs Missionary Baptist Church created this event to commemorate the protest for birthing the environmental justice movement.

On the morning of Friday, October 14th, Grace and I began our journey to the town of Whitakers to attend NCEJN’s 23rd Annual Environmental Justice Summit. Upon arriving at our destination, we were greeted by seemingly endless acres of cotton, tobacco, and soybeans. Nestled among the crops lay the conference center where we would spend our weekend “remembering, recovering, resting, and reimagining” with a hundred environmental justice advocates from across the state.

First-of-its kind study by Waterkeeper Alliance found 83% of the waters tested across the country were contaminated by dangerous PFAS chemicals

On Saturday, September 17th, a group of young girls traveled to Salem Creek to learn about water quality. Known as the "Girls Empowered by Math & Science" (GEMS), these girls were excited to get their hands dirty for the sake of science. Earlier in the day, the GEMS learned how to code robots to dance to the sound of music. This unique program is an outlet for students to experience learning in new and exciting ways.

“The Smell of Money” is a documentary directed by Shawn Bannon that highlights the dismal reality of life in eastern North Carolina’s hog country. The late Elsie Herring of Wallace, NC lived beside one of Duplin County’s many industrial hog farms. In 1985 Smithfield constructed a concentrated animal feeding operation (referred to as a CAFO) on her family’s land which was purchased by her grandfather during post-Civil War reconstruction. The film begins with her story.

Action Alert - August 23, 2022

Ask the Forsyth County Commissioners to Vote NO on Proposed Idols Road Rezoning for Riverwalk Development

Dear Forsyth County Commissioners,

Two Yadkin Riverkeeper members who live in a neighborhood off Idols Road brought to our attention that a proposed rezoning request (Zoning Petition F-1617) is under consideration as part of the "Riverwalk" development on Idols Road. The proposal would rezone approximately 318 acres currently in the Yadkin River (YR), Agriculture (Ag) and RS-30 districts to zoning (YR-S, RS15-S, RM5-S) suitable for higher density development.

We would like to introduce our two newest YRK employees! Please help us welcome them to the team and say hello if you see them at future YRK events!

Riverkeeper Edgar Miller took to the air on June 2 with Southwings Pilot Holliday Obrecht, III, to do an aerial survey of the Yadkin Pee Dee Lakes region, including a flyover of poultry and dairy concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), hydropower dams, drinking water facilities and wastewater treatment plants in the lower Yadkin watershed. The Lake region faces different challenges than the upper Yadkin Watershed, including excessive sedimentation and nutrient loading, harmful algal blooms, and inactive hazardous waste sites at Alcoa’s former aluminum smelter on Badin Lake. A major YRK priority is the state adopting an effective Nutrient Management Strategy requiring reductions in nutrients and sediments from all sources.

The first six months of 2022 have proven to be a pivotal time for the development of new water quality standards in North Carolina, and specifically the Yadkin Pee Dee River basin. Yadkin Riverkeeper’s job number one it to protect and improve the water quality in the entire river basin, which supplies drinking water to more than one million North Carolinas. We are diligently tracking all major regulatory, permitting and legislative initiatives that might impact water quality in our basin and statewide. Please see below for an update on YRK’s major advocacy priorities.

At YRK’s Annual Meeting on Monday evening, six new board members were voted onto the Board of Directors.

Yadkin Riverkeeper (YRK) took an aerial monitoring flight with SouthWings on April 15th to assess current and potential threats to the northern part of the watershed.

I hope you had a happy and productive Earth Day. I am writing to ask your support for the Yadkin Riverkeeper. We all know the Yadkin is a remarkable river that flows through the very heart of North Carolina. It is large watershed, roughly 7,221 square miles that serves as the drinking water source and sustains a population of almost 1.7 million residents. The magnitude of the river basin is both immense and impressive. And yet, the overall conditions of the large river system are influenced by an infinite number of situations, both good and bad, that occur on a smaller, more localized scale.

Significant progress is being made in establishing more stringent water quality standards to protect public health and water quality in North Carolina. NC Riverkeepers, including the Yadkin Riverkeeper, have been at the forefront of advocating for these changes to ensure our waters are drinkable, swimmable and fishable. For latest regulatory and policy developments see below: