Water Resources Annual Report 2023-25

Cascade aerators at the T.Z. Osborne Water Reclamation Facility treat wastewater before its release into South Buffalo Creek.

We’re Working Sustainably to Conserve and Protect All Waters The Industrial Waste Section completed the Special Order by Consent for 1,4-Dioxane. In 2021, the Environmental Management Commission, Department of Environmental Quality, and City of Greensboro successfully negotiated a three-year Special Order by Consent (SOC). This SOC reduced the levels of 1,4-Dioxane leaving the T.Z. Osborne (TZO) Water Reclamation Facility by 97% and limited impact on downstream water supplies. The SOC requires a comprehensive source study, a public awareness program, allocations for industrial users, continued collaboration and oversight of indirect sources of 1,4-dioxane, TZO wastewater treatment plant effluent compliance values, annual reports, and stipulated civil penalties for noncompliance. The department collected over 2,100 samples at a cost of around $250,000, including 32 permitted industrial-user sites twice per year and 26 other sites that included industrial, commercial, domestic, drinking water, and surface water. All annual reports, including data and narratives, reside on the City’s website. Camp Burton Road Sewershed improvements included a planning study to abandon four sewer lift stations near northeast Greensboro with a large gravity interceptor and basin sewer lift station. The study was completed and the department finished 80% of the Camp Burton Lift Station. Subsequent construction will include a gravity interceptor extending to abandon the first of the four sewer lift stations. The Water Resources Department is participating in the Jordan Lake Rules re adoption process. These State of North Carolina regulations were passed in 2009 and sought to reduce nutrients in Jordan Lake. The lake gets most of its water from the Haw River, which originates in Greensboro. The City hopes to encourage affordable and reasonable requirements that benefit all Haw River and Jordan Lake users by participating in the re-adoption process.

Infrastructure and Resource Resiliency