Press Releases

To kick off the sampling season for the Western N.C. Recreational Water Quality Monitoring Program, NC Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Reid Wilson visited Jean Webb Park on the French Broad River in Asheville to demonstrate how DEQ’s Division of Water Resources (DWR) staff sample for E. coli in local waterways. 

The 2026 recreational flounder season will open Sept. 1-14 in Coastal and Joint Fishing Waters of the state.

Today North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Secretary Reid Wilson visited McDowell County to announce grants for 16 projects in western North Carolina designed to improve waste reduction infrastructure and debris management through the Helene Recovery Recycling Infrastructure (HRRI) grant program. 

The N.C. Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve is accepting applications for several local advisory committees (LACs). Community members are needed for each of the Coastal Reserve’s 10 sites: Bird Island Reserve, Bald Head Woods Reserve, Zeke’s Island Reserve, Masonboro Island Reserve, Permuda Island Reserve, Rachel Carson Reserve, Buxton Woods Reserve, Kitty Hawk Woods Reserve, Currituck Banks Reserve and Emily and Preyer Buckridge Reserve. 

Today, the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announced a $1.6 million nature-based flood resilience project that will create floodplain storage and restore natural streamflow to reduce flood risk and recurring flooding in downtown Bladenboro. The Bladenboro South Main Street Flood Resiliency Project is funded by the NC Flood Resiliency Blueprint within DEQ.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries recently certified a new state record for the Graysby Grouper (Cephalopholis cruentata).

MOREHEAD CITY – State recreational water quality officials today lifted a water quality swimming advisory at a sound-side site in Beaufort County.

Recent rainfall helped improve drought conditions in some parts of the state, but most of the state remains in extreme or severe drought, according to the N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council. The exceptional drought classification has been removed.

The N.C. Artificial Reef Program this month completed two major reef enhancements at offshore reefs off Cape Hatteras and off Ocracoke.

As the summer beach season begins, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management (DCM) Public Beach and Coastal Waterfront Access Program reminds coastal residents and visitors about its helpful, interactive public beach and waterfront access map. The map can be accessed directly from mobile devices and desktops to help locate public beach and waterfront access sites along North Carolina’s coast. The map includes a “Find Sites Near Me,” feature that helps users locate sites within 10 miles of a location.