The Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin Association is an advocacy group dedicated to preserving and improving water quality in the Yadkin-Pee Dee River and its tributaries so that they remain a viable water-supply source.
To accomplish this, the association works to:
- Present a collective voice by pooling financial resources and expertise in a sustainable and cost-effective manner;
- Engage members and stakeholders in activities that enhance and preserve water quality in the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin;
- Collect and analyze information and develop, evaluate and implement strategies to reduce, control and manage pollutant discharge; and
- Work in cooperation with stakeholders to provide technical, management, regulatory and legal recommendations regarding the implementation of cost-effective strategies and appropriate effluent limitations on discharges into the Yadkin-Pee Dee River.
The association was formed in 1998 to give dischargers in the basin a unified voice in dealing with state agencies that affect the basin and its waters. As such, membership is restricted to entities that hold permits to discharge treated wastewater into the Yadkin-Pee Dee River or its tributaries. Currently there are 30 members -- 26 public and 4 private.
The association is not a lobbying organization -- its articles of incorporation expressly prohibit this. Chiefly, it monitors water quality in the basin and conducts limited research and restoration activities as resources allow.
Through NC Clean Water Management Trust Fund grants, the association conducted a stream restoration and stabilization project on Grants Creek in Rowan County, and it conducted a study of point-source pollution in Goose Creek in Union County.
The association monitors seventy-one stations throughout the basin monthly for dissolved oxygen, turbidity, fecal coliform, and other water-quality parameters.
The association also received a Clean Water Act Section 319 grant to collect water quality data in High Rock Lake. It is working with the state Division of Water Quality and Alcoa in the development of a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for nutrients in High Rock Lake.
The association has a part-time executive director who coordinates association meetings and other activities.
Vision Statement
To play a leading role in the overall enhancement of water quality throughout the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin to a plateau that places the river among those of the highest quality in the United States.
Mission Statement
To pool financial resources and expertise of private and public organizations and individuals to monitor the water quality of the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin and to evaluate, recommend and assist with the implementation of cost-effective management strategies that will reduce, control and /or manage pollutant discharge into the basin to preserve the basin as a major sources of water supply.
