FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 16, 2008
POLLUTION-FIGHTING PARKING LOTS
Huntersville, North Carolina--You may not realize it, but some of that water coming from your kitchen faucet or shower
nozzle may have once been part of a dirty, oily puddle in a local parking lot.
But with the addition of rain gardens to several huge parking areas in Huntersville, a lot of dirty water will be on its way to
being clean again, benefiting residents from Davidson to Ballantyne.
Northcross Shopping Center in Huntersville, with 60 acres of parking lot and rooftops, has gone "green" with the addition of
rain gardens. This spring, 146 asphalt parking spaces were replaced with ten natural areas. While they look like fancy
landscaping, rain gardens are engineering devices. Rainfall that hits the parking lot flows to the rain gardens, carrying with it
oil drippings, brake dust, antifreeze and many other contaminants. Specially-selected soils and plants in the rain gardens soak
up as much as 98% of some pollutants. The bowl shape of the rain gardens holds excess water. The cleaner water trickles
from a drain at the bottom and is piped to a nearby stream. Slowing the flow of water reduces the risk of creek flooding and
stream bank erosion.
In addition to Northcross Shopping Center, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services has partnered with other private
businesses in Huntersville to add a total of 16 rain gardens and wetlands at Carolinas Medical Center-Northcross, Northcross
Commons, NorthPointe Executive Business Park, and in the Monteith Park residential subdivision. Known as the McDowell
Best Management Practices project, the five sites are near I-77 and Sam Furr Road.
Storm water runoff from that area is piped directly into McDowell Creek, not to a treatment plant. The creek empties into
Charlotte-Mecklenburg's drinking water source: Mountain Island Lake. Water quality where the creek meets the lake is among
the poorest in the entire Catawba River chain. Studies predict the amount of pollution in McDowell Creek will triple as
development continues in northern Mecklenburg County. The rain gardens are designed to remove a significant amount of
water pollution at the source, such as parking lots. That will result in cleaner water in the creek and lake.
The cost of building the rain gardens and wetlands at the five locations is $1.9 million dollars. Nearly $800,000 of that came
from Storm Water fees paid by Mecklenburg County residents. The remaining $1.1 million was funded through grants from the
North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund and North Carolina Division of Environment and Natural Resources.
Land was donated by American Asset Corporation, Carolinas HealthCare Systems, Northcross Properties LLC, NorthPointe
Realty Corporation, Saussy Burbank, and Sentinel Real Estate Corporation, thanks to partnerships with Harris Teeter, Kohl's,
and Lowe's.
Brief Ceremony and Photo Opportunity:
- Wednesday, May 21
- 10 a.m.
- Northcross Shopping Center (I-77 Exit 25, at the corner of Sam Furr Road and Highway 21/Statesville Road)
For additional information contact:
Sharon Foote, Public Information Specialist
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services
704-336-3735
David Woodie, Project Manager
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Service
704-336-3873