20051117 Ver 2_More Info Letter_20080314

O?QF WArF9pG Michael F. Easley, Governor
William G. Ross Jr., Secretary
6 r North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources
p -? Coleen H. Sullins, Director
Division of Water Quality
March 14, 2008
DWQ Project # 05-1117, Ver. 2
Forsyth County
CERTIFIED MAIL: RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
Mr. Lang Wilcox
Lissara Partners, LLC
1210 Forest Wood
Lewisville, NC 27023
Subject Property: Lissara Development
Ut to Yadkin River [030702, 12-(86.7), WSfVC]
REQUEST FOR MORE INFORMATION
Dear Mr. Wilcox:
On February 19, 2008, the Division of Water Quality (DWQ) received your application dated February
15, 2008, to fill or otherwise impact 0.042 acres of 404/wetland and 5,107 linear feet of perennial stream
to construct the proposed residential development and amenity impoundment at the site. The DWQ has
determined that your application was incomplete and/or provided inaccurate information as discussed
below. The DWQ will require additional information in order to process your application to impact
protected wetlands and/or streams on the subject property. Therefore, unless we receive five copies of the
additional information requested below, we will have to move toward denial of your application as
required by 15A NCAC 2H.0506 and will place this project on hold as incomplete until we receive this
additional information. Please provide the following information so that,we may, continue to review your
project.
Additional Information Requested:
1. Please resubmit your plans on full plan sheets at a scale of no smaller than 1'=50'.
2. Please locate your project on the Forsyth County published soil survey.
3. The DWQ will require sampling of similar reference impoundments as attached.
4. Please provide an inventory of proposed project imperviousness area based on the estimated
built-out conditions.
Please provide building envelopes for all lots containing wetlands and/or streams) on the site
plans.
6. Please locate all isolated or non-isolated wetlands, streams, and other waters of the State as
overlays on the site plan.
401 Oversight/Express Review Permitting Unit
1650 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1650
2321 Crabtree Boulevard, Suite 250, Raleigh, North Carolina 27604
Phone: [phone] / FAX [phone] / Internet: http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/ncwetlands
Nor` hCarolina
Naturally
An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer - 50% Recycled/] 0% Post Consumer Paper
Lissara Partners, LLC
Page 2 of 3
March 14, 2008
7. Please verify that you will be bridging all the stream crossings and not using standard culverts or
bottomless culverts.
8. Please discuss how motorboats will be fueled at the lake.
9. Please discuss your proposed stream buffers in detail, per the proposed mitigation plan.
10. Please provide structural design drawings and details for the dam, including the plan and profile
views illustrating the height, toe, materials, and spillway.
11. Please submit a minimum water release plan for the proposed dam. The plan must include a
written explanation of the specific discharge rate and mechanism to provide for each required
release. The plan must also include any design specifications, details and calculations to show
that the release shall be achieved in the given conditions. The plan shall also include monitoring
that ensures compliance. The plan and any associated facilities, once approved, must be in place
and implemented upon the completion of the dam.
12. Please discuss your lake and dam maintenance plan.
Please note, because your sampling must be conducted from May-September, the DWQ will waive your
requirement to submit this information within 30 calendar days of the date of this letter. However, if we
do not receive this requested information within 30 calendar days after submission of your reference
impoundment sampling report, your project will be withdrawn and you will need to reapply with a new
application and a new fee.
This letter only addresses the application review and does not authorize any impacts to wetlands, waters
or protected buffers. Please be aware that any impacts requested within your application are not
authorized (at this time) by the DWQ. Please call Ms. Cyndi Karoly or Mr. Ian McMillan at 919-733-
1786 if you have any questions regarding or would like to set up a meeting to discuss this matter.
S' cerely, X?_4
Cyn i Karoly, Supervisor
401 Oversight/Express Review Permitting Unit
CBKlijm
Enclosures: Predictability Study Protocol For Sampling Reference Impoundments
cc: Sue Homewood, DWQ Winston-Salem Regional Office
John Thomas, USACE Raleigh Regulatory Field Office
File Copy
Central Files
Chris Huysman, WNR, 3674 Pine Swamp Road, Sparta, NC 28675
051117 Ver2LissaraDevelopment(Forsyth )On_Ho Id
Predictability Study Protocol for
Sampling Reference Impoundments
Prepared by North Carolina Division of Water Quality,
Wetlands and Stormwater Branch
March 12, 2008
Background
NC has a regulatory Antidegradation Policy (15A NCAC 02B .0201) that states that it is
the "policy of the Environmental Management Commission to maintain, protect, and
enhance water quality within the State of North Carolina". Activities that may cause a
degradation of water quality should be avoided unless the applicant can show that denial
of the proposed project will inhibit "important social and economic development".
The NC Division of Water Quality receives requests to impound streams and rivers to
create amenity lakes, particularly in housing developments. These reservoirs do not serve
a great public need, such as serving as a water supply, and often do not provide
"important social and economic development" sufficient to over-ride the primary policy
of the state to maintain and protect water quality. Lakes are not naturally occurring in the
majority of the state and impoundments often result in a degradation of water quality,
mainly due to a high acceleration of the eutrophication process, so any impoundment
should come under additional scrutiny. Changing the character of a waterbody from a
lotic (flowing) to a lentic (impounded) system may result in:
• higher sensitivity to nutrient enrichment, with levels that may not cause issues in a
lentic system leading to overgrowths of algae and nuisance aquatic plants in a
lotic system;
• increased nuisance growths, which can degrade water quality as reflected in
dissolved oxygen concentrations, pH, water temperature, chlorophyll-a, and total
dissolved gases, and may result in the waterbody no longer meeting NC numerical
water quality standards (refer to 15A NCAC 2B .0200);
• degradation of water quality downstream of the impoundment (e.g., instream
dissolved oxygen and/or temperature can be increased or decreased to undesirable
levels, depending on the type of release; concentrations of ammonia and TKN
may be increased, particularly in the case of bottom releases);
• negative impacts on channel morphology of the downstream reach, including a
higher susceptibility to vertical downcutting and lateral (bank) erosion, resulting
in channel incision, streambank instability, and a long-term imbalance of the
sediment and flow regime;
• deleterious impacts on instream fauna downstream of the impoundment due to the
cumulative effects of all the above factors.
The rate of impoundment requests and the high potential for impoundments to degrade
water quality and to violate water quality standards has led to the need for additional
information from the applicant for use by DWQ staff in the permitting process.
Protocol for Sampling Reference Impoundments, March 12, 2008
Page 1 of 5
Therefore, it is incumbent on the permit applicant to show that a proposed impoundment
project is unlikely to cause a degradation in water quality within the affected reach,
which includes not only the impounded section of stream but also upstream and
downstream of the proposed project. The guidelines outlined in this document are to be
used by applicants to collect appropriate water quality data to support their assertion that
the proposed project will not cause degradation of water quality.
Introduction
In order to show that the proposed project will not cause a degradation of water quality
within the affected reach, the applicant shall collect appropriate water quality data in a
minimum of two existing impoundments that are similar to the project being proposed.
These data will be assessed by DWQ to ensure that numerical water quality standards are
not being exceeded, and also to determine if a significant change in water quality exists
by comparing data from the upstream and downstream reaches.
The applicant shall use the following guidelines to develop a written study plan and
sampling schedule, which will be submitted to DWQ staff for approval at least 30 days in
advance of the proposed start of monitoring.
Site Selection
A minimum of two comparable impoundments will be selected by the applicant for
monitoring. It is unlikely that completely comparable impoundments will exist, and each
proposed project will likely have slightly different concerns; the following, criteria are
shown in relative order of importance and shall be used to select the most comparable
sites. The applicant shall specify why the proposed sampling sites meet these criteria,
and if not, what impact(s) that may have on the interpretation of the resulting data, and
the relative importance of the impact(s).
The study sites shall be:
• Within the same 8-digit hydrologic unit (HUC) as defined by the USGS
(http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/huc.html);
• Within the same Level IV ecoregion
(ftp://ftp.epa.gov/wed/ecore ions/nc sc/nc eco.pdf) preferred;
• Of a comparable design, particularly in terms of type of release (e.g., epilimnion
or hypolimnion)
• Land use similar to what is anticipated in the built-out area surrounding and
upstream of the proposed project (cumulative impacts from housing development,
etc. taken into account), and has a comparable vegetated (woody) buffer (if
present);
• Of comparable character in terms of size, primarily surface area, though mean
depth and volume should also be taken into consideration;
• The impounded stream will be of the same or similar stream order;
• Similar drainage area of the watershed;
• Have a similar retention time, if known.
Protocol for Sampling Reference Impoundments, March 12, 2008
Page 2 of 5
At the applicant's discretion, additional data may
be collected from nearby (within the same Level
IV ecoregion) natural lakes (where available, see
below for list) to show that conditions within the
study impoundments are not significantly
different from those found under natural
conditions with minimal impacts.
Sampling schedule
A minimum total of ten sample sets should be
collected. Sampling and measurements should
occur during the "growing season", defined as the
period from May 1 through September 30. All
sampling and measurements should be performed
during daylight hours. Data may be collected:
h
Table 1: Natural lakes in NC

Alligator Lake Pas uotank
Bay Tree Lake Cape Fear
Catfish Lake White Oak
Ellis Lake Neuse
Great Lake White Oak
Jones Lake Cape Fear
Lake Mattamuskeet Tar-Pamlico
Lake Phelps Pas uotank
Lake Waccamaw Lumber
Pun go Lake Tar-Pamlico
Salters Lake Cape Fear
Singletary Lake Cape Fear
Swan Creek Lake Pas uotank
• every other week during t e growing
season within a single calendar year, or
• collected monthly during the growing season over two consecutive calendar
years.
Sampling stations
For each impoundment sampled, four to six specific sampling stations should be
identified as follows:
• one station on the stream located in a flowing (lotic) reach upstream of the
reference impoundment;
• two to four stations (depending on size and heterogeneity of the system under
study), evenly spaced across the centerline of the impoundment (i.e., bank to bank
transect) (lentic);
• one station on the project stream located in a flowing (lotic) reach downstream
(within 500 feet) of the reference impoundment.
Locations of all sampling stations should be georeferenced in the field using NAD83
datum.
Water Quality Indicators
The indicators to be measured include water temperature, dissolved oxygen saturation,
dissolved oxygen concentration, pH, specific conductance, Secchi depth transparency,
total suspended residue, turbidity, nutrients (total phosphorus, total Kjeldahl nitrogen,
ammonia [NH3], nitrate + nitrite [N02+NO31), chlorophyll-a(corrected for pheophytin),
and fecal coliform. Depth to bottom should also be recorded for the two to four lentic
stations (i.e., within the impoundment).
Protocol for Sampling Reference Impoundments, March 12, 2008
Page 3 of 5
Sampling methods
All sampling, field measurements, and QA/QC procedures should conform to the
methods outlined in the DWQ Intensive Survey Unit (ISU) Physical and Chemical
Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), available online at
http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/esb/isu.html. Two different sampling methods will be used,
depending on whether the station is lotic (upstream and downstream reaches) or lentic
(within the impoundment), as described below and summarized in Table 2:
• Lotic stations: Field measurements (temperature, DO, pH, specific conductance)
will be taken in situ at a depth of approximately 0.1m below the surface. Water
samples for nutrients, total suspended residue, turbidity, and fecal coliform are to
be taken as grab samples at a depth of approximately 0.1 m below the surface. All
measurements and samples should be taken in a flowing, well-mixed area of the
stream, generally at or near the thalweg.
Lentic stations: Field measurements (temperature, DO, pH, specific conductance)
will be taken at each station just below the surface (depth of approximately 0.1m),
and at 1 m intervals to the lake bottom. Secchi depth transparency should be taken
at each sampling location. Fecal coliform samples shall be collected as grab
samples at a depth of approximately 0.1m below the surface. Samples for
nutrients, total suspended residue, chlorophyll a, and turbidity shall be taken as
spatial composites of the photic zone, defined as twice the Secchi depth. The
preferred method of composite sampling is to use a LabLine (see ISU SOP for
description) or similar type sampler that allows continuous sampling as it is
lowered and raised throughout the photic zone. Less desirable but acceptable is
the use of a Van Dorn or similar sampler to collect multiple grab samples at
regular intervals throughout the photic zone, and composite them before
distributing into sample bottles.
Table 2: Summary of water quality indicators to be measured. All depths are measured from the water
surface.
Parameter Upstream of
impoundment
(1 station) Impoundment Cross section
(2-4 stations) Downstream of
impoundment
(1 station)
Field measurements Yes, 0.1 m only 0.1 m and every meter
to bottom Yes, 0.1 m only
Depth to bottom N/A Yes N/A
Secchi transparency N/A Yes N/A
Fecal coliform Grab Grab Grab
Total suspended
residue Grab Photic zone composite Grab
Turbidity Grab Photic zone composite Grab
Nutrients Grab Photic zone composite Grab
Chlorophyll a N/A Photic zone composite N/A
Protocol for Sampling Reference Impoundments, March 12, 2008
Page 4 of 5
Analytical methods
All measurements and analyses shall be performed by a laboratory with a current North
Carolina Wastewater Laboratory Certification for the parameters of interest (including
field parameters). A list of certified laboratories is available at
http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/lab/cert.htm. All sample handling, preservation, and analysis
should be performed using approved methods (see
httj2://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/lab/inorgparam.htm).
Reporting
The applicant should provide an interpretive report summarizing all results and findings
to DWQ 401 Oversight Unit for review. Results from all samples and measurements
should also be provided in electronic form, e.g., Excel spreadsheet or delimited text file.
DWQ will review for completeness, comparison of raw values to appropriate surface
water quality standards included in the NC Administrative Code (15A NCAC .0200, see
http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/admin/rules/codes statutes.htm), and significant differences
between lotic sites.
Protocol for Sampling Reference Impoundments, March 12, 2008
Page 5 of 5
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Article Addressed to:
Lissara Partners LLC
Attn: Mr. Lang Wilcox
1210 Forest Wood
Lewisville,NC 27023
DWQ# OS-1117-v2-Forsyth
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