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Use Restoration Watershed (URW) Program

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This map identifies watersheds where some type of watershed plan (or study) has been completed. There are many different entities that develop watershed plans or fund the development of these plans but not all watershed plans are the same. Plans developed in association with Section 319 funding are to follow the Nonpoint Source Section 319 Program EPA guidance. Projects funded through Section 319 must identify and address nine elements in the watershed plan. The Division of Mitigation Services (DMS) follows its own program guidance when coordinating watershed plan preparation. River Basin Restoration Priorities (RBRPs) are plans DMS develops to identify priorities for the protection and enhancement of water quality, fisheries, and wildlife habitat. Priorities are identified as Targeted Local Watersheds (TLWs). TLWs are at the 14-digit hydrologic-unit (HUC) scale. The Clean Water Management Trust Fund (CWMTF) provides monies on a competitive basis to others to develop or implement watershed plans. Many of the CWMTF funded plans are associated with stormwater management. This website also includes those watersheds where TMDLs (total maximum daily load) have been done. TMDLs determine the reduction needed from one or more pollutants for the water to meet standards, but TMDLs do not include implementation (strategy to improve the water). The Use Restoration Watershed (URW) program works with those developing and/or implementing watershed plans and also coordinates the different entities involved in watershed planning to facilitate leveraging of resources and promote more effective watershed efforts.

Stay Tuned! This website will either include (or link to) many of the local watershed groups in NC to help promote awareness of the different groups should anyone want to learn more and/or assist them. It should also make it easier for different watershed groups to assist each other in terms of sharing experience, knowledge, etc.

How to Develop a Watershed Plan

Watershed Resources

To learn more about watershed successes and improvements, click here.

Collaborating to Improve and Restore Waters in NC

About the Use Restoration Watershed Program

North Carolina's waters from the mountains to the coast are valued for the many uses they provide to our citizens and visitors such as drinking water supplies, commercial and recreational fisheries, aquatic life habitat and recreational opportunities. Unfortunately, many of the state's waters are impaired or unable to support these uses. There are hundreds of miles and acres of impaired waters in North Carolina. Increasing population and associated greater demand on the state's natural resources are resulting in an increase in the number of impaired waters in NC. The NC Division of Water Resources has established the Use Restoration Waters Program to restore the beneficial uses of impaired waters statewide, while also ensuring protective measures are in place to prevent future degradation. The URW Program will carry out this mission through the following three goals: 1) prioritizing waters for restoration, 2) promoting and supporting restoration initiatives, and 3) improving documentation of restoration efforts. For additional information, please see the URW Program Description document.

Subscribe to the Restoration Watershed E-mail List Serve

Click here to subscribe to the URW e-mail listserv. The URW listserv is an opportunity to communicate with others involved or interested in watershed restoration and protection. There will be information on financial and other resources available to those involved in watershed work. This is also an opportunity to ask and have questions answered.

     Michelle Raquet, Basin Planner
     NCDENR-DWR, Water Planning Section, Basin Planning Branch
    michelle.raquet@ncdenr.gov
     919-707-9006

updated 03/15/2019

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