GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1999

S	1 

SENATE BILL 858

Short Title:  Pamlico Sound Monitoring/Modeling.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Senator Perdue.

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Referred to:  Appropriations/Base Budget.

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April 13, 1999

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR MONITORING WATER QUALITY IN PAMLICO SOUND AND DEVELOPING A MODEL CAPABLE OF PREDICTING THE IMPACTS OF NUTRIENT LOADING IN PAMLICO SOUND AND TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS TO MONITOR AND MODEL PAMLICO SOUND.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.(a)	There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources the sum of one million three hundred sixty thousand dollars ($1,360,000) for the 1999-2000 fiscal year and the sum of six hundred thirty-five thousand dollars ($635,000) for the 2000-2001 fiscal year to be used to monitor and model Pamlico Sound pursuant to this section.
Section 1.(b)	No later than October 1, 1999, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall contract for the services of a primary investigator to coordinate and implement the monitoring and modeling of Pamlico Sound described pursuant to this section.  No later than January 1, 2000, the primary investigator shall establish a schedule for the completion of the monitoring and modeling of the Sound.
Section 1.(c)	The primary investigator shall monitor the sediment of Pamlico Sound, the air above the Sound, and the surface water of the Sound.  The primary investigator shall also monitor the meteorologic events that affect the hydrodynamics of the Sound.  The primary investigator shall monitor sediment and surface water for physical, chemical, and biological parameters, including temperature, irradiance conditions, conductivity, level of nutrients, level of major ions and metals, level of dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, and bioassays of phytoplankton.  The primary investigator may use the ferry system administered by the Ferry Division within the Department of Transportation, atmospheric nutrient deposition collectors, moored instrument packages, satellite and aircraft ocean color and infrared sensors, and benthic core sampling to monitor the Sound.
Section 1.(d)	The primary investigator shall develop a model of Pamlico Sound that includes the sediment transport, hydrodynamics, and ecosystem dynamics of the Sound and is capable of predicting the impacts of current and future nutrient loading on the trophic-dynamic structure, water quality, and fisheries resources of the Sound.
Section 1.(e)  Beginning July 1, 2000, the primary investigator shall report on the schedule, progress, and findings of the monitoring and modeling of Pamlico Sound to the Environmental Review Commission every six months until the monitoring and modeling is complete.
Section 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1999.