A national environmental group saysthe Haw River is among the most endangered in the nation. Earlier this year a pipe broke in Burlington and 3.5 million gallons of sewage spilled into the Haw. The River flows into Jordan Lake, which provides drinking water for about one million state residents.
"We need to step letting these problems sort of fester and start addressing them; and I think there are some opportunities where we can in fact move forward and get the pollution out of these rivers and out of our drinking water," said Peter Raabe, with American Rivers.
Raabe says aging sewage and stormwater pipes need to be replaced. The Haw River is the main source of water for Cary and also provides drinking water to Chapel Hill and Durham.
A series of conservation groups want the state to enforce theJordan Lake Rules which were passed five years ago. This is the fifth time in 10 years that a North Carolina river has been named to the top 10 most endangered list.