THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 19, 1996 TAG: 9603190327
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
TYPE: Local Briefs
DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
Members of Dare County's Clean Water Advisory Committee are asking the Dare County Board of Commissioners to fund a full-time county employee to head their new water testing program.
The committee, which has spent about $8,000 in taxpayers money to begin a water testing program, says a staff member experienced in water testing is needed to oversee a group of volunteers who plan to monitor water quality throughout Dare County.
No salary or funding level for the position has yet been determined.
Since October, Hatteras Island resident Linda Foster has been gathering water samples from 10 sites in the ocean and sound from Hatteras Village through Duck. The samples, which are collected monthly, are monitored for temperature, visible contaminants, color, smell, surface particles, dissolved oxygen, bacteria content, nitrates, nutrients, phosphates and pH levels.
``We're so tied to clean water in this area, for everything we do from fishing to seafood production to recreational activities, that we really need to start a full-time testing and monitoring program,'' Clean Water Advisory Committee spokesman Damon Tatem said Monday. ``We need a Dare County employee to coordinate that program.'' by CNB