• Water Woes in Fuquay-Varina
  • Durham Homes Still Damaged by Chantal
  • High School Theater Gets National Attention
  • ICYMI: CHCCS Goes to the General Assembly
  • Raleigh Menorah Lighting This Week
Credit: Photo from Wikipedia

Good morning, readers.

Fuquay-Varina is running out of water, and since 2020, the town has been working on a plan to increase its supply to levels that will keep up with growth.

There’s just one issue: the town’s proposal, known as an interbasin transfer (IBT), would remove a massive amount of water, more than 6 million gallons per day (mgd), from one river basin—the Cape Fear—and discharge treated wastewater back into another—the Neuse. 

Downstream communities in Fayetteville and the Wilmington area have serious concerns about the proposed IBT, which needs approval from the state Department of Environmental Quality’s Environmental Management Commission. At a hearing in Raleigh last week, a dozen stakeholders from Eastern North Carolina urged the commission to reject Fuquay-Varina’s plan, citing potential shortages during droughts and threats to water quality, future economic development, and downstream infrastructure with reduced water flow. 

According to an environmental impact statement Fuquay-Varina submitted, however, the town’s own hydrologic modeling “indicates minimal quality impact” to both the Cape Fear and Neuse Rivers; the proposal was selected because it fulfills the project purpose and need with “minimal environmental impact, and the least financial impact” on Fuquay-Varina ratepayers, the statement reads.

Read the story below.

—Jane

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Credit: Photo by Jack Regan — The 9th Street Journal

After the Flood

Over 50 homes in North Durham’s Old Farm neighborhood were flooded in the storm. With disaster assistance coming slowly, some remain damaged, The 9th Street Journal reports.

Credit: Cornell Watson for The Assembly

Passing Grade

The DPS board approved a policy outlining law enforcement access to schools and student information, but it doesn’t change much in practice, INDY’s Chase Pellegrini de Paur reports.

Right and Wrong

GOP legislators accused Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools of indoctrinating students in a theatrical hearing last week, INDY’s Chase Pellegrini de Paur reports.

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LOCAL: There were about 700 immigration arrests in the Triangle and surrounding counties from late January to mid-October this year, WUNC reports.

EDUCATION: Schools with cell phone restriction policies are seeing improved performance and fewer discipline issues, ABC11 reports.

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