Contact: Sharon Gladwell, (919) 715-6514
Date: February 8, 2000
Media Advisory:
Meeting To Promote Water Conservation In Central Coastal Plain

RALEIGH - To help address the problem of groundwater depletion in North Carolina's central coastal plain, staff from the state's Department of Environment and Natural Resources will meet with water suppliers and water users in that part of the state for a Water Conservation Workshop from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10. The purpose of the workshop is to discuss water conservation issues as well as to introduce techniques and innovations for conserving water and using it more efficiently.

To ensure an adequate future water supply for the central coastal plain, DENR will present its proposed response for more careful ground water monitoring, planning for new water sources, and regulation of water withdrawals. Water conservation can make existing water supplies last longer and play a significant part in solving the water supply problem.

"Ground water in some parts of the central coastal plain is being withdrawn faster than nature can replenish it," said John Morris, director of DENR's Division of Water Resources. "It is important that we use North Carolina's water resources more efficiently to ensure that water supplies will be available for the future."

This half-day workshop will be at the Community Council for the Arts in Kinston. It is for both water suppliers and commercial, industrial and institutional water users, including water and wastewater operators and managers, local government officials and staff, business and institutional facility managers, consultants, environmental groups, and others interested in water conservation. The affected area includes Beaufort, Martin, Carteret, Onslow, Craven, Pamlico, Duplin, Pitt, Edgecombe, Washington, Greene, Wayne, Jones, Wilson, and Lenoir counties. The workshop is being sponsored by DENR's Division of Water Resources and Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance, Eastern Carolina Council of Governments, N.C. Rural Water Association, and N.C. League of Municipalities.

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