• A Long-Term, Sustainable Water Plan for All of Wake County
  • Our Picks for Things to Do in the Triangle This Week
  • ICYMI: Durham City Manager Lifts City Hall Ban for Local Activist
  • A Window of Hope for North Carolinians Serving Life Sentences
  • State of NC Will Help Fund Raleigh Activist’s Prison Purchase
Credit: Courtesy of Wake County

Good morning, readers.

Wake County is growing fast—it will add more than 250,000 people in the next decade and will have grown by 2 million residents by 2070. But all that growth puts a strain on the county’s natural resources, especially water. 

For the past three years, all 12 Wake County municipalities have collaborated with county staff, engineering and water consultants, and RTI International to create a plan to ensure the county and all its residents will have access to clean and abundant water for the next 50 years. 

The Wake County One Water plan, as it’s called, will likely go before Wake County’s Board of Commissioners next month. But county officials say the collaborative work that guided Wake County’s plan shouldn’t end within its borders. 

“We really need to think in collaboration and partnership at a regional level,” says Nancy Daly, Wake County’s water resources program manager. “Because we live upstream and downstream from our neighbors.”

Read Kennedy Thomason’s story for the INDY below. And have a good Thursday. 

—Jane

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The latest from INDY, plus other stories around the state you’ll want to read. Handpicked every day by INDY Editor-in-Chief Sarah Willets.

INDY Selects

A documentary on North Carolina’s drinking water crisis, Chanel Miller at Quail Ridge Books, and more events around the Triangle we recommend this week.

Credit: Illustration by Nicole Pajor Moore

Ban’s Off

Following an appeal hearing, Durham’s city manager lifted a two-year ban from City Hall on a local activist who disrupted a city council swearing-in ceremony last month. 

Credit: Courtesy of Graham

Window of Hope

About 225 people serving life sentences are eligible for review under an obscure state law, The Assembly reports. It’s a rare opportunity to confront racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

Sponsored Content

STATE: Kerwin Pittman, a Southeast Raleigh resident and activist who bought an abandoned prison to help others who have been incarcerated, will receive funding assistance from the state of North Carolina, NC Newsline reports.

LOCAL: A state House committee questioned Raleigh leaders about a conservative activist group’s video that claimed the city violated a federal law banning DEI programs, WUNC reports. 

LOCAL: With a $500,000 investment from the American Rescue Plan Act and Chapel Hill’s Penny for Parks program, longtime local skaters helped rebuild a beloved skate park, WRAL reports.

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  • Learn how to craft greeting card collages at Athens Drive Community Library.
  • Durham residents can help the city and county design their joint open space plan; take a short community survey to provide your input. 
  • A Wake County Public Libraries program offers free legal consultations at libraries across the county. The next one takes place this Saturday, January  10, from 9 a.m. to noon at East Regional Library in Knightdale.
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