Instead of curbing pollution, state lawmakers consider funding chemical treatment for Jordan Lake.
T o clean up the pollution in Jordan Lake, North Carolina lawmakers have tried arguing.
Now state officials are examining a potential chemical treatment for the lake — yet another experiment on a vital drinking water source for more than 350,000 people.
NCPW has confirmed that the NC Department of Environmental Quality has been presented with a “demonstration project that we are continuing to review” with the US Army Corps of Engineers, said Jamie Kritzer, DEQ acting deputy secretary for public affairs.
Funding for the chemical treatment could be included in the Senate’s proposed budget, sources told NCPW.
However, one of the state’s most powerful lobbyists, Harold Brubaker, who served 35 years in the House, including two terms as Speaker, represents SePro, a “life sciences” company that sells chemicals to kill aquatic plants in lakes and reservoirs.
However, a representative for the lobbying group said she would pass along a message to SePro seeking comment from NCPW.
But many of the active ingredients are “proprietary,” according to the label, and not publicly available.
However, labels several of the products also state that there are no restrictions on fishing or swimming after the chemicals have been applied in the water.
The state spent $1 million on a failed SolarBees project, essentially gigantic eggbeaters that were supposed to stir the lake water and prevent algae from forming.