Speak Up for the Haw: Saxapahaw Wastewater Permit Comments due September 8
This is about the sewage plant, not the drinking water.
The state permit that governs what the Saxapahaw wastewater treatment plant (this plant discharges into the Haw River) is up for renewal. Comments are open until September 8.
NC DEQ has published a draft NPDES permit renewal for the Saxapahaw WWTP (permit NC0042528), owned by B. Everett Jordan & Son-1927 LLC. The plant discharges treated domestic wastewater into the Haw River just downstream of the village, in a stretch people swim, paddle, and fish.
Public comments are due Monday, September 8, 2026. This draft is genuinely better than the permit it replaces, and that happened because residents kept reporting the smell and the discharge, and we kept pushing DEQ. The draft permit adds:
Fecal coliform limits for the first time. 200/100 mL monthly geometric mean and 400/100 mL daily maximum, sampled weekly. These numbers count poop germs in the water. The current permit has no bacteria limit at all.
Dissolved oxygen monitoring in the effluent, weekly. Critters and fish need oxygen to breathe, just like we do.
Oil and grease monitoring in the effluent, weekly.
Updated nutrient reopener language and updated electronic reporting requirements for discharge monitoring reports.
To weigh in, email your comments to siying.chen@deq.nc.govby September 8, 2026, and reference permit NC0042528, Saxapahaw WWTP.
You can also mail them to: NCDEQ-DWR, Water Quality Permitting Section, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1617.
A few lines is plenty. The most useful things you can say:
You are requesting a public hearing on draft permit NC0042528.
You thank DEQ for adding fecal coliform limits and the new monitoring.
You want enforceable limits, not just monitoring, for dissolved oxygen, ammonia, and oil and grease at the plant's current permitted flow.
You want upstream and downstream in-stream monitoring included now.
How you personally use this stretch of the Haw, and what you have seen or smelled. Your own experience carries more weight with DEQ than anything we can write for you.
DEQ notice of intent | Draft permit and related documents
Questions? Email emily@hawriver.org.
