Development would harm Haw River
The following is a Counterpoint.
By Richard L. Phillips
I am deeply concerned about the proposed Bluegreen development in northern Guilford County. I believe there are three very important reasons for the county commissioners to deny this change in zoning.
First, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really have a nice park. The state already has a "half a park," and the tract in question would expand it to a reasonable size.
Where in this area of the Piedmont will you find 600 acres that can be added to an existing park? This is an opportunity that may never happen again, and it should not be passed up.
Second, and probably more important, is the water quantity issue: the water required for the golf course and the surrounding homes. (Golf courses seem to be exempt from most water restrictions.)
A golf course almost 200 acres in size requires a lot of water, and it has been proven that we do not have that much in this area. If a golf course of this size is irrigated the same as a lawn — one inch per week during the dry periods of an average year, and at least 1.5 inches per week during an extreme drought like the current year — it will require from 5.3 million to 8 million gallons of water a week.
Since this will be withdrawn from the Haw River, it will adversely impact and possibly prohibit the ability for Greensboro to pump needed water from the Haw into Lake Townsend, as it is set up to do.
Third and last, there is the water quality issue. Golf courses are probably the highest users of fertilizers and pesticides of all land uses — that is why they are so beautiful. Some of these pollutants will undoubtedly wind up in the Haw River either as surface or sub-surface flow.
However, golf course runoff is not the only adverse water quality issue — there will be the discharge from the proposed package plant for treating wastewater from all the new homes.
Package plants are a simplistic mechanism for treatment and typically do not allow for advanced treatment to further reduce nitrogen and phosphorus levels. This is especially important on a nutrient-sensitive stream such like sections of the Haw River.
In conclusion, I believe the rezoning should be denied for any of these reasons.
The writer is an adjunct associate professor of biological engineering at N.C. A&T.
Comments (10)
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Mr. Phillips is absolutly right. This is a bad project from all angles.
We have half a park? We have a wonderful conference center and no park.
Let's put the Park in the State Park!
Posted on November 7, 2007 8:31 AM
FINALLY! Someone who has an almost intelligent take on the situation!
Mr Phillips,
I agree with you that a State Park would be a nice addition to the areas in Northern Guilford County.
Although, I have to disagree strongly about the environmental issues that you and a hoard of talking robots (all saying the same uneducated things) keep throwing around!
The golf course will be "permitted" by the state and regulated as to the quantities of fertilizers and or nutrients that are placed onto the land areas. The Aquifer Protection Section of NCDENR was set up to permit and oversee the running of such operations. Rural Farms (like the one in question for development) DO NOT have these regulations and oversight so.....I see them more as a threat (you NEVER know WHAT you neighbor is dumping in his back yard!) and Farms are NOTORIOUS for having miscellaneous 55 gallon drums of "who-knows-what" sitting around!
Secondly, the "Package" plant will be processing waste water .....YES......BUT what people DON'T know is that the water is just one step shy of being DRINKING water! The name is what turns people off! I have to admit that I wouldn't want to "drink" the re-use water, only because of the name.......BUT I have seen the analysis on multiple systems and the water IS clean!
It's not like Jo-Bob who sucks septic tanks and then sprays them all over a farmers field (solids and all).....and BTW.....there are Jo-Bobs all over the Triad that are doing just that.....pumping septage and spraying it over fescue fields for farmers so that they don't have to buy fertilizer! And everyone is worried about the golf course! HA!!! I had to Laugh out loud on that one!
I wish everyone would stop complaining about the made up environmental issues (and Global Warming, you know who you are Polar Bear Lady) and start talking about the REAL issues.....
Like.......It would be a GRAND addition to Guilford County to have and support a Beautiful State Park in the Northern Areas.......
UNFORTUNATELY this reason doesn't have enough controversy to make headlines!
Posted on November 7, 2007 9:28 AM
Geohokie, he's an environmental engineering professor. I'd bet he has a decent grasp of the nutrient cycle. He's probably trying to write to an audience, and he's certainly approaching it with a goal, so he put out the subject with the most impact. I haven't read a report, but he's got a point about the potential nutrient load. If the state permits it, fine. You have to admit, though, with regulations getting tighter there will eventually be a bigger plant there, possible sludge storage and application, odor problems, etc.
I don't think I'm getting off-topic too badly since the writer mentions water shortages, but your one-step-away comment is more true than people realize. Toilet to tap is an unpleasant and unfortunate moniker to have gained, but direct water reuse is the obvious solution to our water shortages.
Roger
Posted on November 7, 2007 10:02 AM
Roger,
Without trying to reveal identities here.....I can't stress enough how I am intimately aware of the regulations and how they are overseen in the real world.
I also realize that this is a professor.....a "biological" one....and of all the professionals that I have worked with over the years.....I have come to understand that the individuals who know what they are talking about are the "Environmental (civil) Engineers and Geologists" . the general public likes to lump Biologists into the Environmental realm as it pertains to impacts from contamination and industrial processes......Biologists DO deal with the "environment" but it has been my experience that they don't have a clue about contamination, soils and or the hydrologic cycle as it pertains to mitigation of contaminates. What they can do is identify the species of a specific region and use biological markers to determine the health of a micro or regional environment......I know because I was a Biology major for three years in college before I realized that all of the "real" environmental issues were being learned in the Geology department.
Go here
http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/lau/main.html
Also....this is a quote from Wikipedia...
Biological engineering (also biosystems engineering and bioengineering) deals with engineering biological processes in general. It is a broad-based engineering discipline that also may involve product design, sustainability and analysis of biological systems. In other words, Bioengineering is a discipline that applies engineering principles to biological systems for the purpose of developing new technologies of services to improve the living standards of societies. It exploits the new developments in molecular biology, biochemistry, microbiology, cell metabolism and engineering principles and applies them in order to understand living systems and to bring solutions to various problems associated with these systems.
Don't see ANYTHING here about soils, contaminates and or hydrologic processes!
Posted on November 7, 2007 10:50 AM
Oh,
I also wanted to add that I question the integrity of any individual who tries to influence uneducated individuals (like the public in this case) on a topic that they are not educated in themselves......the LTTE's education and expert background does not match the topic that he is discussing.
Posted on November 7, 2007 11:07 AM
Heck, I bet we've poured from the same pot of coffee before.
Posted on November 7, 2007 11:15 AM
You never know!
Played any "Clarinets" lately?
Posted on November 7, 2007 11:47 AM
I'll never tell.
You, though. There's only so many Tech grads...
Nah, just kidding. You'd know me if you saw me. What's not bald is grey and hopping around one-legged. I'm contracting my services out these days, so ships passing in the night and all that. Unless they've got some twelve year old coffee pots.
Which they might.
Roger
Posted on November 7, 2007 12:44 PM
"First, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really have a nice park."
Why? Why has this opportunity not come about prior to someone being interested in it for a commercial reason?
Posted on November 7, 2007 4:21 PM
Nitpicker, if I remember reading right it's sort of a stars-aligning thing. I think they're basing the park around some type of recently acquired conference center, and the timing of the land becoming available just happened to work with future park development.
Me? I'd rather see it bought and assigned as game lands since there aren't any in this area. Google Maps shows some dandy duck hunting spots in there.
Roger
Posted on November 7, 2007 7:48 PM