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Environmental officials look at ways to reduce pollution in Yadkin River, High Rock Lake

State environmental officials recently approved the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basinwide Water Resources Management plan. It lays out a roadmap to address concerns in the watershed, including reducing pollution going into High Rock Lake.

The Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin plan was updated this summer. It’s an overview of conditions and concerns about the river’s water quality, particularly nutrients and sedimentation. These nutrient pollution sources come primarily from three areas: wastewater, agricultural runoff and forestry, and stormwater.

The state will use that information to help develop a cleanup strategy for High Rock Lake in the watershed. The lake is impaired because of PH, turbidity and chlorophyll-a. There’s also an increase in potentially harmful algal blooms. High Rock Lake is like a bowl that catches pollution coming down the river and that gets passed down to lakes below the watershed.

The State Division of Water Resources recently held its first stakeholder’s meeting to discuss the issues facing High Rock.

Yadkin Riverkeeper Edgar Miller says it’s a historic opportunity to improve water quality in the basin.

“It’s really about protecting the recreational resource of High Rock Lake, drinking water supplies for many communities downstream, and ultimately it will benefit the entire River Basin,” says Miller.

The North Carolina Division of Water Resources is also creating a steering committee and technical advisory groups to address High Rock Lake’s impairments.

The agency is in the early stages of a several year process to adopt regulations that control nutrient inputs in the watershed.

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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