An eastern North Carolina nonprofit is continuing efforts to identify the exact source of ongoing pollution in a local waterway.
Sound Rivers Water Quality Specialist Taylor Register was out last week scouting locations for taking samples of water in Slocum Creek.
Funding from a North Carolina Land and Water Fund grant will be available in January, and Register said there’s been a lot of prep work necessary to make sure they have everything in place to start on time.
For the past two years, Sound Rivers has been working to identify the source of Slocum Creek’s pollution, and recently confirmed that two sites with failing septic systems are responsible: one at a home in a neighborhood off Wolf Pit Branch and another at Greenfield Heights Mobile Home Community.
Steps have been taken by the Craven County Health Department to address these issues and stop the pollution.
Register will be leading the yearlong project’s field work and sampling efforts, while University of North Carolina’s Institute of Marine Sciences staff will tackle processing and testing for nutrients and DNA.
The goal is to collect and process water samples at six sites on 10 separate occasions, with an additional 10 samples for source-tracking purposes.
Register said they will be looking specifically at bacteria, nutrients and human fecal DNA markers.
