WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH — The North Carolina Coastal Federation is teaming up with the Town of Wrightsville Beach and the Hanover Seaside Club to clean up the swimming and fishing waters around Wrightsville Beach.
The phased project, which is funded by a grant to the federation from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, will include stormwater runoff reduction measures at the Hanover Seaside Club and the town’s public parking lot adjacent to Oceanic Restaurant.
Phase I of this year-long project will take place between Nov. 6 and Nov. 20 and will involve the installation of pervious pavement around existing drains within the public parking lot near the Oceanic Restaurant. Phase II of the project will begin during winter 2018.
Designed to demonstrate innovative techniques, the new approaches that will be installed during this project will capture, infiltrate and remove pollutants that currently flow directly into the adjacent Banks Channel, which is heavily used for water-based recreation.
Runoff reduction will be achieved by redirecting and infiltrating surface runoff from existing street and parking lot pavement and drains. The new system will direct the runoff flow into the pervious pavement area adjacent to the existing storm drain.
“We are so grateful to the Clean Water Management Trust Fund for supporting these efforts to clean up these valuable waters that are frequently used by so many residents and visitors,” said Tracy Skrabal, coastal scientist and southeast regional manager for the federation. “Our goal is to use each new innovative approach to educate and encourage these municipalities and agencies, such as the N.C. Department of Transportation, to design their projects with these measures up front, which saves money and better protects our waters.”
This is the third large-scale project in a series of projects that are designed to improve the water quality around Wrightsville Beach. Earlier this year, an infiltration project was installed at the Blockade Runner Beach Resort that redirects much of the polluted runoff from the resort and adjacent roads into the ground through an engineered infiltration system. This project and previous efforts will greatly improve the water quality within Banks Channel, which the resort uses to host many recreational events.
This project is part of the ongoing implementation of the Bradley and Hewletts Creeks Watershed Restoration Plan. For more information about this project, please contact Tracy Skrabal at tracys@nccoast.org or 910-509-2838.
