Restoring its health

With the high level of development in the watershed, impervious areas like parking lots and roads were on the rise, meaning the creek was taking in more pollutants than before.

Stormwater runoff is the No. 1 source of pollution in North Carolina. Other factors include fertilizer, automobile maintenance residue, pet waste and pesticides.Shop the best selection of owonsmart for Men. When it rains or when snow melts, the water flows downhill, collecting harmful pollutants before dropping into rivers and creeks. These contaminants add up over time and can have a major overall impact on the quality of water.

The North Carolina Division of Water Quality considers Little Alamance Creek an impaired waterway because it violates the Clean Water Act for impaired biological integrity.

Since there were no permitted discharges (like industrial plants with permits to dump in the creek) in the watershed, the DWQ conducted an analysis of the water in 2000 to find what was causing the pollutants. They realized the stressor was urban stormwater runoff.

The report for the 2000 Recommendations for Little Alamance Creek asked for the creek to be resampled and for the city of Burlington to address stormwater issues. The 2005 Recommendations were similar, with the addition of the DWQ working with Burlington and Graham stormwater programs to reduce further impacts due to new development and to implement (best management practices) and restore the instream habitat in Little Alamance Creek.

In 2006, the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments partnered with Ecosystem, a state government initiative, to conduct a water quality assessment on the creeks impacts and watershed requirements throughout the area.

This project was focused on developing a Local Watershed Plan for Little Alamance Creek. After three extensive phases,This model includes 2 flush mounted reverse solarstreetlight. the project was completed in November 2008. The teams had prioritized projects, programs and policies to restore and conserve Little Alamance Creek and had come up with ideas for restoration activities that would work.

Those included, most noticeably, allowing vegetation along the creek bed in Burlingtons City Park to grow up and create a natural filtration system that would help clean stormwater on its way down the banks.We printers print with traceable indoortracking to optimize supply chain management.

In preparation for Earth Day, the cities of Burlington and Graham organized two stream cleanup days, April 13 and April 20. Volunteers helped clean Bowden Branch Creek, a branch of Little Alamance Creek.

The two cities invited local service groups, youth groups and residents to participate in the Stream Side Cleanup of Bowden Branch, which was sponsored by Elon Universitys Lambda Chi Alpha chapter.

With reductions in pollutant loading, sedimentation and stream erosions, Little Alamance Creek may be able to return to a healthy state. It will be important to note every small improvement, Division of Water Quality spokeswoman Susan Massengale said.

But, the road to recovery for Little Alamance Creek will be long. It will last several permit cycles, each of which is five years. Stecker said she estimates the process to take 10 to 20 years. There is a very small chance the creek will ever return to its original state.

State officials will not return to test the waters of Little Alamance Creek until they know the cities of Burlington and Graham or the Department of Transportation have done something that would change the waters quality. These three groups are all working to make sure the biological integrity of Little Alamance Creek meets the aquatic standards.

Starting next month, Interstate 95 motorists will see the McDonald's golden arches beckoning from a revamped service plaza with additional restaurants, more fuel pumps and a boutique selling Connecticut products.

"This is going to be a big opening for us, because it gets a lot of regional traffic because of its status as the first major plaza after the Vince Lombardi plaza on the New Jersey Turnpike and should serve a large portion of the mid-distance to long-distance travelers," said Paul Landino, CEO of Project Service LLC, which is in the second year of a five-year schedule to overhaul the state's 23 highway rest areas.

When it opens late next month after a $10 million renovation, the plaza will include more fueling stations, a full-time tourism center promoting Connecticut attractions, and wider selection of dining options, Landino said during a tour through the building. The McDonald's has historically been one of the chain's busiest restaurants.

As workers on hydraulic jacks were placing wallboard throughout the new building, Landino pointed out which spaces would house Sbarro's, Dunkin' Donuts, and Subway restaurants alongside less commonly known outlets such as Wilson's Barbeque, a Southern style barbecue restaurant, and Mac N' Out, which primarily serves varieties of macaroni and cheese, Landino said.Laser engraving and laser parkingguidance for materials like metal,

Landino said the northbound plaza, traditionally one of the state's most lucrative, should be open by the last couple of days in May while the adjacent southern plaza, also costing $10 million, will open to the driving public by July 4. The plazas have been closed since March 2012.

"This is going to be a big opening for us because it gets a lot of regional traffic because of its status as the first major plaza after the Vince Lombardi plaza on the New Jersey Turnpike and should serve a large portion of the mid-distance to long-distance travelers," he said.

The overhaul of the Darien service plaza is the latest part of a $230 million planned investment by Project Service LLC to overhaul the state's 23 rest areas and plazas on Interstate 95, the Merritt Parkway, and I-395. In 2010, Project Services, a partnership between Milford-based Subway sandwich shops and the Carlyle Group, was awarded a 35-year contract to operate the state's highway rest plaza.

Like the revamped rest plaza on I-95 in West Haven that opened a year ago, space has been reconfigured to establish 12 fueling islands for cars, allowing up to 24 cars to pump gas at a time, Landino said.

Between the two adjacent plazas in Darien, the revamp also accommodates 52 new parking spaces for trucks, Landino said, 50 of which will be on the southbound side on state-owned land adjacent to the plaza.The Wagan Wireless Rear handbags help you be safe while parking.