As the N.C. Coastal Federation continues exploring new methods to keep polluted stormwater out of Wrightsville Beach’s waters, nearby coastal towns are taking notice.
Data indicates Wrightsville’s stormwater diverting techniques have effectively improved water quality, so officials from Carolina Beach recently toured the projects to see which ones they could implement in their town.
“It sounds like they’ve had a tremendous impact in Wrightsville Beach,” said Ed Parvin, Carolina Beach assistant town manager.
He was most interested in a retrofitted pipe at the end of Iula Street, which, testing showed, reduced the discharge of fecal coliform bacteria that previously flowed into Banks Channel from that pipe by 99 percent. The project reduces bacteria by forcing polluted stormwater to drain into the soil instead of flowing into the waterway.
As Parvin prepares to present the concept to the Carolina Beach Town Council on March 22, a second pipe will be installed in Wrightsville Beach.
The Coastal Federation received a grant to retrofit the Blockade Runner Beach Resort’s outfall pipes that drain into Banks Channel, and construction is scheduled to start in the coming weeks. Unlike the Iula Street pipe, the Blockade Runner’s pipe will include a cistern to store the stormwater for the hotel’s lawn irrigation.
The hotel hosts numerous paddleboard and swimming events throughout the year, general manager Nicolas Montoya said, so he wants to provide a safe environment for participants.
Even more stormwater projects could be in the town’s future. The Coastal Federation just applied for a grant to retrofit the Hanover Seaside Club’s outfall pipe. The proposed 2017 project also includes installing pervious pavement in the town’s public parking lot near Crystal Pier.
Choosing which drains and pipes to retrofit is a deliberate process, said Tracy Skrabal, coastal scientist and manager of the Coastal Federation’s southeast regional office. So far, the federation has targeted commercial and town property instead of seeking permission from residential property owners.
The town’s watersheds and pipe systems play a role, too. Before starting the initiative, the federation closely examined the town’s layout to determine how stormwater flowed and identify what Skrabal called problem areas.
Wrightsville Beach is one of the few beach towns that doesn’t have ocean outfall, Skrabal said, because those who designed the town didn’t want polluted water flowing out to sea where families were swimming.
But impervious pavement causes stormwater runoff, and the runoff has to go somewhere, Skrabal said, so it all goes into Banks Channel.
“I don’t think anybody realized, at that time, that the backside of these islands is very heavily used for recreation too,” she said.
Carolina Beach faces a similar drainage problem, but its water quality issues are compounded by stagnant water flow toward the island’s north end, Parvin said.
“We don’t have a good flow system, so anything we can do to enhance water quality and get all those materials filtered out before they go into the sound is a huge plus,” he said.
Carolina Beach does have a major project planned to upgrade 14 Canal Drive street ends on the north side of the island, and Parvin hopes part of that work can include installing retrofitted pipes like the one on Wrightsville Beach’s Iula Street.
Education has always been a component of the Coastal Federation’s stormwater diverting efforts around Wrightsville Beach. The federation has created a self-guided tour so residents can learn about and implement some of the simplest techniques themselves. But Skrabal said it is exciting to see the larger projects gain the attention of other municipalities.
“We’re starting to see these projects incorporated into people’s planning process, which is fantastic,” she said.
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