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lmitchell@islandpacket.com
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New development rules to protect local waters from nitrogen pollution were put on hold Wednesday to allow Beaufort County staff more time to analyze the potential costs to developers.
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For the past eight months, a county board has considered adding nitrogen as a third "pollutant of concern" to its stormwater management regulations.
The county currently requires developers to control phosphorus and fecal coliform bacteria pollution. To combat those two pollutants, many developers use stormwater ponds to reduce runoff and improve overall water quality.
In large amounts, nitrogen can lead to algae blooms and fish kills.
Though nitrogen occurs naturally in the atmosphere, it also can come from pesticides and fertilizers used in landscaping. When it rains, that nitrogen flows over pavement and into local waters.
Nitrogen is more difficult to manage than the other two pollutants and requires extra and potentially costlier controls that developers would have to pay for, said county stormwater manager Dan Ahern.
Those controls could include designing projects with more open space and features such as pervious pavement and vegetation to reduce runoff.
At Wednesday's meeting, public works director Eddie Bellamy asked the Stormwater Management Utility Board to approve the nitrogen proposal.
The three-member board postponed a decision until its next meeting (Jan. 7) to evaluate costs associated with adding nitrogen controls, particularly for redevelopment projects.
Allyn Schneider was the only board member who disagreed.
"Our responsibility ... is to protect the waters of Beaufort County," he said. "And regardless of what happens with this study, I think that we should go forward with the new recommendations."
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