Pond enhancement: This pond in New Bern will be more water-quality-friendly. Charlie Humphrey photo
Two Neuse Education Team (NET) members will soon be using urban stormwater control best management practices (BMPs) on a water quality project aimed at enhancing a pond's wetlands and buffer in New Bern's Greenbriar neighborhood.
Pond enhancement: This pond in New Bern will be more water-quality-friendly. Charlie Humphrey photo
Charlie Humphrey, an area environmental agent with N.C. Cooperative Extension in Craven County and Dr. Bill Hunt, a Cooperative Extension specialist and assistant professor based in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State, expect to use a matching grant from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Division of Water Quality.
The two-year, $20,732 project is in partnership with Greenbriar Homeowners Association; Rose Whetzel of Greenbriar Garden and Beautification Clubs; and Danny Meadows, City of New Bern.
Within Greenbriar, a pond, park and wetland are interconnected with walking trails. Over the past several years, residents expressed concern over sedimentation in the pond due mainly to severe erosion of its north bank. They asked Cooperative Extension and the City of New Bern to look into the problem, which resulted in a grant application by former NET member David Hardy.
Charlie Humphrey. Art Latham photo
"The state's stormwater regulations require retention ponds to be innovatively designed, and this one will serve as a demonstration model for Eastern North Carolina," Hunt says. "We're converting a standard-design retention pond to a water-quality-friendly pond by adding a large aquatic bench, or shelf."
The site should be excavated and graded by mid-March of 2004. The team will plant sod in early April and diverse wetlands species to enhance the area's ecology and aesthetics in late April. Next November, they will plant a buffer along the pond's banks.
Humphrey says the NET will further educate citizens and municipal officials about solving water quality concerns through three educational visits and an on-site educational sign to promote urban water quality BMPs.
