How we got started
Clean Jordan Lake was co-founded in July 2009 by Dr. Thomas Colson, formerly Adjunct Professor of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University (now employed by the National Park Service) and Dr. Francis DiGiano, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill. Clean Jordan Lake is recognized as a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Federal tax code.
What we do
We work in partnership with the Haw River Assembly to expand volunteer programs to remove shoreline trash, to inform local and state government agencies about the problem, and to recommend trash prevention strategies that will keep the shoreline clean in the future.
Jordan Lake – A valuable natural resource
Jordan Lake is a multi-use reservoir that was filled in 1982. Its primary purpose is flood protection for downstream citizens in the Cape Fear River basin. The lake covers 14,000 acres (about 22 sq. miles) with 180 miles of shoreline, and is surrounded by about 33,000 acres of public land for recreation and wildlife management.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in partnership with the State of North Carolina manages the natural resources. USACE operates the B. Everett Jordan Dam to control the water level in the lake. The Visitor Assistance Center and surrounding 800 acres controlled by the USACE provide interpretive nature programs, hiking trails and boat ramps.
The NC Division of Parks and Recreation operates the majority of the recreation areas. Wildlife subimpoundments for waterfowl management are leased to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission that manages the fields to provide wildlife habitat and wildlife-oriented recreation. Additional recreational facilities are provided by the, N.C. Division of Forest Resources.
The Jordan Lake State Recreation Area receives about 1 million visitors annually. Many more anglers, boaters, bathers, kayakers, hunters, hikers and birders access the lake and surrounding public land outside the park boundaries.
Nearly 250,000 citizens also depend on Jordan Lake for clean, safe drinking water. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 143,000 of them live in Cary, 15,000 in Morrisville, 37,000 in Apex, 13,000 in Chatham County (north section) and 38,000, who may not live in these locations, work in Research Triangle Park.
Multipurpose use of Jordan Lake – protecting hundreds of thousands downstream from floods, offering recreational opportunities for 1 million and providing a safe drinking water for almost 250,000- indeed makes this lake a very valuable North Carolina resource.
Why Remove Trash
Trash threatens to impair the lake’s beneficial uses, mar its natural beauty and destroy the natural habitat of wildlife living along the shoreline. Floating and submerged trash is a danger to boaters. Wildlife habitats are being destroyed. There is risk of injury to birds and animals. Chemical residuals in aerosol spray cans could seep into the lake. Anyone seeing this blight would wonder how Jordan Lake could be a public water supply. If these stains upon the land are not removed, the local economy can be hurt if lake users go elsewhere.
Trash and Urbanization
The Haw River watershed at the southern end of the lake comprises a land area of about 1,400 square miles and the New Hope River at the northern end accounts for an additional 344 square miles. While much smaller in area, the New Hope River watershed is highly urbanized. About 720,000 people live in these two watersheds. Rapid urbanization throughout the watersheds over the last 30 years is evident in this satellite time lapse view of the area (best appreciated by setting the zoom to get in range of 10-20 km scale).
Litter along roadsides, play toys and basketballs left behind in parks, and large objects illegally dumped are washed after heavy rainfalls either directly off the land or through storm drains into streams that eventually feed the lake. This CJL video gives an idea of how it happens. Objects as large of refrigerators, hot water heaters and tires (many still on rims) have been found along the high water mark of many remote coves, especially on the Haw River Arm of Jordan Lake.
Trash also comes from recreational use of the shoreline, especially at fishing access points and on vast areas of public land that surround the lake. With increasing urbanization, more visitors will be coming to the lake. Bottles, cans, diapers, propane fuel canisters, plastic bait containers, and fishing tackle are strewn everywhere. Littering is a habitual problem with no easy solution.
No state or local agency has the financial resources to address the trash problem. The Haw River Assembly has been conducting annual trash cleanups along the length of the Haw River for the last 23 years. Despite these efforts, the inaccessibility of much of the shoreline of the Haw River Arm of Jordan Lake has greatly limited trash removal. With no road access, boats are needed to ferry the trash back to a boat ramp. A grant from the BoatU.S. Foundation to Clean Jordan Lake is being used to attract more from the boating community to our cause. Learn more….
Our Success
Clean Jordan Lake sponsors a Fall Annual Cleanup to coincide with NC Big Sweep week and participates in the Haw River Assembly’s Clean-Up-A-Thon each March. In addition, various groups have performed community service days including Green Hope High School, Triangle Fly Fishers, Change the Triangle, GlaxoSmithKline, NC Geocachers, Elon University and Biogen Idec.
Volunteers have removed thousands of bags of trash as well as large objects such as 55-gal drums, fuel tanks, hot water heaters. Embedded with this trash is the more usual assortment of “litter” (bottles, cans, plastic bags) as well as beach balls, soccer balls, baby dolls and basketballs. In addition, nearly 3,000 tires many still on rims have been removed.
Our success is vividly portrayed in NBC17 News coverage of the October 2010 cleanup event in conjunction with NC Big Sweep that attracted about 200 volunteers. Picking up trash is hard work but can also be a lot of fun as this video shows!
Donated Services and Supplies
Clean Jordan Lake is indebted to local and state agencies, organizations and private business for their support. The USACE has covered the cost of tire disposal as well as provided logistical support. The Chatham County Solid Waste & Recycling Division has provided roll-off dumpsters, waives the landfill tipping fee, donates trash grabbers, installs our Adopt-A-Shoreline signs, and facilitates our press releases.
The NC Wildlife Resources Commission has cleared paths for volunteers to reach trash sites. NC Big Sweep and the NC Dept. of Transportation, Highway Stormwater Program have donated bags, gloves and trash grabbers. The Piedmont Section of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary has given on-water logistical support. Cross Winds Boating Center has provided pontoon boats and operators to ferry volunteers and trash.
As of September 2012, the value of volunteer hours and goods and service that have been donated exceeds $200,000.
Contact Us
Clean Jordan Lake
P.O. Box 1447
Pittsboro, NC 27312
info@cleanjordanlake.org
Meet the Board of Directors
Francis A. DiGiano, President
Fran is a resident of Chatham County. He spent 26 years on the faculty of the Dept. of Environmental Sciences & Engineering in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC/Chapel Hill before retiring in 2007. His prior faculty appointment was at the University of Massachusetts in the Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering where he spent 12 years. Fran’s professional expertise is water quality and this carries over to his lifetime commitment preserving our water resources. He is also an avid kayaker who enjoys paddling on Jordan Lake.
Dave Carlson, Vice-President
Dave is a founding member of both Clean Jordan Lake and the Carolina Kayak Club and has served on their boards for several years. Dave has lived in Wake County for almost 20 years and is an avid kayaker who spends a lot of time on Jordan Lake. He retired from IBM after 29 years as a programmer and technical writer. A committed environmentalist, Dave is concerned about our lakes and rivers and does all that he can to clean them up
Ann M. DiGiano, Secretary-Treasurer
Ann is a resident of Chatham County. She is a former CPA and CFP and was a partner in a Durham accounting firm. She has served on the board of directors of Chapel Hill Home Health Agency, Habitat for Humanity of Orange County, and Fearrington Cares. Ann shares her husband Fran’s interest in kayaking and in preserving our water resources.
Elaine C. Chiosso, Board Member
Elaine is the Haw Riverkeeper and Executive Director of the Haw River Assembly, a non-profit organization founded in 1982 to restore the Haw River and to protect Jordan Lake. She has taken a lead role in collaborating with other organizations and communities on pollution and environmental justice issues. In this regard, she has served on many committees and councils of state and Chatham County government. She has also worked in science and environmental education, and with public policy issues. She has lived near the Haw River in Chatham County since 1975.
Brett M. Hartis, Chair of Annual Trash Cleanup Event Committee
Brett is a PhD Student at North Carolina State University. He received a B.S. in Biology at East Carolina University in 2008 and a Master’s Degree in Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology at North Carolina State University in 2011. He currently teaches Principles of Spatial Analysis at NCSU and works on a variety of NPS and NCDOT projects. Brett is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys hunting on the lands surrounding Jordan Lake.
Jim Frei, Liaison with Jordan Lake Boating Community
Jim is the owner of Stormwater Services Group, a consulting firm providing environmental regulatory compliance services to industrial and municipal facilities. He has a B.S. in Geology from NC State University, and has continued his education with graduate courses in urban stormwater management, hydrology, and BMP design and maintenance. He is a past board member of the Raleigh Ski & Outing Club, and is a current member of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary and Raleigh Sail & Power Squadron. A native of Durham, Jim grew up exploring the Haw River and New Hope Creek watersheds, and now spends most weekends boating on Jordan Lake.
Jon Holliday, Liaison with Hiking and Scouting Communities
Jon is a Sr. Director of Software Engineering at CA Technologies Inc, where he has worked for 19 years. He has a BS Degree in Computer Science from NC State University. He grew up in NC and has lived in Wake County since 1984. He is an avid hiker and the founder of Triangle Trail Hikers Meetup group, leading hikes around the triangle and other parts of the state. Jon was an Eagle Scout and received the Vigil Honor from The Order of the Arrow in the Boy Scouts of America, the highest honor that the Order of the Arrow can bestow upon its members for service to lodge, council, and Scouting. Jon leads hikes at New Hope Overlook Recreation Area and hikes along the Haw River. He hopes to get the hiking community more involved in cleaning up our lakes and shorelines.