John Grace

Wainwright, David
From:
JGracell05 @aol.com
Sent:
Sunday, March 30, 2014 7:10 PM
To:
Bashaw, Justin P SAW
Cc:
info @wakeupwakecounty.org
Subject:
[EXTERNAL] SolarBee Public Comments
I understand you are collecting public comments regarding the SolarBee project for Jordan lake. I live in Falls Lake
watershed and am a founding member of the Watershed Protection Council, an informal citizens group whose only
agenda is protecting our precious water supplies from premature destruction.
SolarBee is a floating, solar powered pump that aerates the water to impede formation of algae. It is an interesting
concept being proposed as a means of allowing greater upstream development around Jordan Lake. Unfortunately, algae
is no more than a visible sign of pollution. Eliminating algae with SolarBee does not reduce or eliminate pollution — it
simply makes it less visible.
Impervious surface is the major cause of reservoir deterioration. Best is undisturbed forest land. Development above
10% impervious surface leads to erosion, stream bed scouring and rapid transport of surface pollutants and sediment into
the lake. Engineered stormwater management devices can help if they are designed to a high standard and well
maintained. Unfortunately, this is expensive and very few developers are prepared to do it right. Even more
unfortunately, many of our elected officials do not understand the long term implications of not doing it right.
The SolarBee proposal is one more example of developers trying to make a quick buck at the expense of many
thousands of citizens who will depend on Jordan Lake for their water supply decades into the future. I hope the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers will be forward looking and oppose this proposal.
John Grace
1105 Kinsdale Drive
Raleigh, NC 27615
919- 848 -2492