The Imagine Cary Community Plan outlines Cary’s values for protecting and preserving our natural environment. Specifically, the plan emphasizes the conservation of water resources and the protection of watersheds, including Jordan Lake, to maintain a high-quality water supply for our future.

Cary has an established leadership role in supporting efforts and implementing regulations to protect the Jordan Lake watershed and our drinking water supply. These efforts include implementing stormwater pollutant treatment requirements ten years ahead of State regulations and requiring wider protective stream buffers. Although the State suspended many of the original rules designed to protect Jordan Lake, Cary continues to implement them successfully. 

In 2016, the NC Policy Collaboratory was directed by the legislature to conduct a multi-year study and analysis of nutrient management strategies for Jordan Lake and Falls Lake. Their final report was completed in December 2019.

The report describes reducing nutrients in the New Hope Arm of the lake, located upstream of Cary’s water intake facilities, as one of the more effective strategies for overall nutrient reduction. Since undeveloped lands export approximately ten times less total nitrogen and total phosphorus than agricultural and urban lands (per unit area), one effective strategy for watershed protection is to preserve and protect undeveloped land in strategic locations. Protecting undeveloped land in the New Hope Arm of the lake offers excellent opportunities for meaningful progress.

As part of ongoing efforts to protect Jordan Lake, the Town is actively participating with Jordan Lake One Water (JLOW) to advance regional efforts supporting watershed protection. Cary is also pursuing projects for watershed protection by leveraging utility funds to protect our water supply through land acquisitions and stream corridor protections.

Cary Adopts Watershed Protection Funding Approach

Cary’s important leadership role was significantly advanced, beginning with the adoption of the Fiscal Year 2021 budget, when Cary began funding watershed protection annually from utility fund revenue. Cary provides utility services to Cary, Morrisville, and Wake County’s portion of Research Triangle Park. Watershed protection funds are provided to the 20-year Capital Improvements Plan and made available for projects supporting Jordan Lake Watershed Protection. The rate of funding provided each fiscal year is indexed approximately to billable water production in the amount of $0.15/1,000 gallons of water sales. Those funds are implementing important acquisition and reclamation projects in the primary area of interest, the New Hope Arm of the Jordan Lake Watershed.

Resources

• Jordan Lake One Water
• NC Policy Collaboratory Jordan Lake Study – December 2019
• NC Department of Environmental Quality, Jordan Lake Nutrient Strategy
• NC Policy Collaboratory - Protecting the Forests Protects Our Drinking Water Supplies in the Jordan Lake Watershed

Contact

Phone: Dial 311 within town limits or (919) 469-4000 outside of Cary
Email: 311@carync.gov
Online: services.carync.gov
Hours: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
Requests made by email may take up to one business day to receive a response.