The funding will be used for a variety of projects designed to improve water quality in priority watersheds across the state.
This runoff picks up natural and man-made pollutants as it flows, eventually depositing the material into lakes, rivers, and groundwater. Controlling nonpoint source pollution is especially important since one in three Americans get their drinking water from public systems that rely on seasonal and rain-dependent streams.
North Carolina has identified more than 40 watersheds across the state as priorities for restoration using 319 grant funds.
It can contribute to problems like harmful algal blooms, erosion, and bacteria contamination of surface and groundwater.
Nonpoint sources of pollution include agricultural runoff, urban runoff, abandoned mine drainage, failing on-site disposal systems, and pollution caused by changes to natural stream channels. Through Section 319, EPA provides states with grant funding to implement their nonpoint source programs and to support local watershed projects to improve water quality.

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Local sewage experts are bringing to light the hazardous effects of flushing "flushable wipes" down wastewater pipes. The wipes combine with kitchen grease and cause a massive congealed buildups of waste, known as "fatbergs."
As part of Pollution Prevention Week, residents are encouraged to make simple changes to their daily routine to help maintenance crews and sewer workers who have to deal with "fatbergs."
"Fatbergs" block the flow of water, which can make water bills more expensive for residents. Medicine and chloride introduced into the sewerage system can also contaminates the water.
"It is extremely difficult and costly to remove pollutants such as chloride and other chemicals once they get into our waters," said Michael Mucha, chief engineer and director of Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District.
"When everyone works together to keep them out, we all benefit from improved water quality and lower utility bills," Mucha added.

Reservoirs likely source of Smithers water contamination: CAO.
The Town of Smithers remains under a boil water notice for a third week.
How the water system works Information provided by the Town explains how water is distributed throughout Smithers.
It’s 268 feet deep and is in a sand and gravel aquifer with a 12-inch telescoping screen.
The pumphouse located at the public works yard is used for annual chlorine flushing of the water mains in the spring.
The water once pumped from the wells is stored in two reservoirs that float on the system.
One of the reservoirs holds 265,000 gallons of water and is about 10 feet deep.
It was built in 1975 and was cleaned in 2005, which removed three inches of sediment from the bottom.
As for why the Town of Smithers doesn’t keep large amounts of chlorine on site, it’s simple.
According to Yanciw, they have a few options and one might be to increase the amount of chlorine put into the system at a higher concentration still once a year, or they may flush the system twice a year.

Drawing attention to pollution of water courses from domestic waste, they found that antibiotic resistance genes were significantly more abundant in river sediments collected from the city than from upstream sites.
Environment plays an important role in transmission of bacterial pathogens and bacteria carrying antibiotic resistance genes (ARG)," Nachiket P Marathe at the Centre for Antibiotic Resistance Research at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, told IANS via email.
This implied that domestic wastes pollution is enriching the river with bacteria carrying antibiotic resistance genes and river sediments from within the city contain antibiotic resistance genes which can be transferred between bacterial species.
Carbapenems are broad spectrum antibiotics and regarded as the ago-to’ drugs for serious infections, especially when multi-drug resistant organisms are a concern.
"Carbapenems are used for treatment when penicillins (eg.
Resistance against carbapenems leaves very few drugs for treating these bacterial infections.
According to Joakim Larsson, senior author of the study, professor and director of the Centre for Antibiotic Resistance Research in Gothenburg, the observance in the Pune river is probably not an exception, but it is "likely a rather common situation" in India.
"The river water is used by the villages downstream of the city as drinking water (with some preliminary treatment) and also for irrigation.
This would facilitate transmission of these bacteria carrying antibiotic resistance genes (including pathogens) back to humans.
This might eventually lead to increase in infections with antibiotic resistant bacteria," he added.

Water contamination possible in Collier County.
NAPLES, Fla. – A week after Hurricane Irma made landfall in Collier County, the county is facing health concerns with its water.
From flood water and damage done by Irma, the county has also suggested boiling all water used for cooking, cleaning and personal use.
"We’re doing very well," said Goce Sipinkocki, co-owner of Aqua Seafood and Steak on 5th Avenue.
Aqua has been open most of the week following Irma.
Sipinkoski said they’re well aware of the water notices and are not taking any chances.
"I have a meeting with my staff, and I tell them, ladies and gentlemen, we’re going to serve sparkling bottle water, or spring bottle water, so we’re safe," Sipinkoski said.
Aqua is one of only a handful of restaurants that has power on 5th.
Another is Caffe Milano, where the general manager there is also aware of the water concerns and said it’s also not serving tap water.
Collier County officials say to reach out to the county’s health department for sampling instructions if you’d like your water tested at home.

Adopting a multi-pronged strategy to tackle river pollution in Maharashtra, the state government, while pledging to make higher budgetary allocations, has decided to preserve and rejuvenate the state’s rivers by enforcing stringent laws to prevent dumping of untreated solid waste and undertaking a plantation drive.
Guidelines are being reworked on putting a cap on construction activities along river fronts and following stringent norms.
Desilting of rivers that have shrunk has also been included in the plans.
A senior secretary said: “Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is keen on pushing a wholistic policy involving the Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of Finance.
The state government believes that tackling river pollution cannot be confined to a handful of rivers.
Instead, they should launch the project across all the rivers in Maharashtra.” While at the Centre, the focus is on Ganga cleaning, the state government’s approach is to tackle pollution in all the 302 rivers across 36 districts.
Therefore, we have to make sewage treatment mandatory.
Untreated solid waste cannot be allowed to flow into the rivers.” The water resources proposal under consideration suggests the recycling of water for agriculture and treatment of water by local bodies before allowing it to flow into rivers.
However, the state government’s foremost concern is to make sewage treatment commercially viable.
Water expert Madhav Chitale advocated greater participation of local bodies and villages in the river rejuvenation mission.

Eastham water pollution lawsuit settled.
EASTHAM — A dispute over the contamination of private drinking water wells by chemicals that leached from the town’s landfill was quietly settled this summer after the town agreed to pay each of three families $90,000.
Kathleen Schrock, of 45 Starlight Lane, Gina Salerno and Deborah Moreno, of 35 Starlight Lane, and Brian and Kate Remmey, of 60 Knowles Road, will receive about $60,000 each after legal fees, according to the settlement agreement signed June 21 in Barnstable Superior Court.
The well for the Remmeys, who have three children, did not test high enough to receive bottled water, but they were included in the suit.
“We’re happy to have it settled and we’re glad the town recognized there was a problem with the water that we had been drinking,” said Schrock, who remains in her Eastham home, a geodesic dome.
“We did tell our neighbors” about the suit, Schrock said.
The high levels were discovered after the state Department of Environmental Protection found that the testing protocol used by the town’s engineer was faulty and it was changed, he said.
In 2014, voters at town meeting approved spending $45.8 million to construct the first phase of a public water system along Route 6 and around the landfill area.
And the plaintiffs feel the same way.” This was the second of three separate court cases related to the contamination to be settled.
No new suits have been filed, Beebe said.

• In a blow to environmental groups, the EPA will delay compliance for an Obama-era rule limiting toxic water pollution from coal-fired power plants by two years, “while the agency revisits some of the rule’s requirements.” (Reuters, The Hill) • House lawmakers vote to block the implementation of an Obama-era rule designed to limit methane emissions from new oil and gas drilling sites.
(The Hill) COAL: The owner of a Montana coal mine says over 80 miners could be laid off after a district judge blocked an expansion project.
(Associated Press)
(News Service of Florida) FRACKING: A commission votes to begin the lengthy process of banning drilling and fracking near the Delaware River and its tributaries.
(Associated Press)
(Greentech Media) ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The nation’s largest fast-charging system is pairing used electric vehicle batteries with charging stations to help avoid demand charges.
(Utility Dive) GRID: A conference in Minnesota this week will explore the Midwest’s growing potential for energy storage.
• Some Florida nuclear power plants remain inactive – but undamaged – from Hurricane Irma.
• A guest columnist says it’s time to build Florida’s power grid underground.
(Reuters, Bloomberg)

EPA Rewrites Rules Limiting Water Pollution from Coal Plants.
Washington, D.C. — Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is taking further action to delay critical public health protections for cleaning up toxic water pollution from power plants.
The EPA first began efforts to roll back the power plant wastewater standards in April, when EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt suspended important limits on the amount of toxic pollutants such as arsenic, mercury, and lead that power plants are allowed to dump into our waters.
The EPA action announced today would make a two-year delay of those public health protections a new part of federal regulations.
During that two-year period, EPA intends to review the public health protections at industry’s request to consider further delaying and weakening them.
A coalition of public health and environmental groups, represented by Earthjustice, has been fighting in the courts to oppose the new EPA Administration’s attempts to delay and weaken the power plant toxic water rule.
“We know that this pollution can cause brain damage in children as well as cancer.
Today’s action is a bold-faced gift to the coal industry at the expense of the health of families everywhere.” In addition to announcing the rule today, the EPA also filed the rule with the federal district court in Washington, DC, where public health and environmental advocacy groups have been pursuing a legal challenge to EPA’s April action to suspend the toxic water pollution standards.
The EPA stated in today’s court filing that it intends to seek dismissal of the advocates’ lawsuit now that the Agency has taken additional action to delay the rule.
The public health and environmental advocacy groups, which include Clean Water Action, Waterkeeper Alliance, and Sierra Club, now intend to ask the court to find that the EPA didn’t have legal authority to put the protections on hold.

Fairbanks City Council to discuss contaminated water stipend.
An ordinance will be introduced in Fairbanks that would provide a water bill stipend for residents with contaminated water.
The ordinance, which will be introduced Monday at a City Council meeting, would appropriate $100,000 toward a stipend to help affected families pay their water bills.
A Fairbanks well was contaminated with a dangerous amount of perfluorinated compounds, affecting the water at a couple dozen properties, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported (http://bit.ly/2wQmJas ).
Since the contamination, the city has provided clean water at no cost, and this summer, work crews began to connect the residences to the city’s water system.
In May, Fairbanks resident John Mancuso asked the city to waive his water bill when his home was connected to the water utility.
"We believe the city needs to provide water to us free of charge, for as long as our family owns this house," Mancuso wrote in a letter to the council that was obtained by a public records request.
Studies have linked the perflourinated compound Pefluorooctanoic Acid to kidney, thyroid, ovarian, prostate and bladder cancer, according to the American Cancer Society’s website.
Although many communities nationwide have been affected by these contaminates, there are still questions concerning the long-term effects of perflourinated compounds.
Mancuso’s daughter, Fatima, also had a bout with ovarian cancer.