Upper Neuse River Basin Association: About UNRBA

The Upper Neuse River Basin Association (UNRBA) was formed in 1996 to provide an ongoing forum for cooperation on water quality protection and water resource planning and management within the 770-square-mile watershed. The 8 municipalities, 6 counties, and local Soil and Water Conservation Districts in the watershed voluntarily formed the Association.

The Mission of the UNRBA is to preserve the water quality of the Upper Neuse River Basin through innovative and cost-effective pollution reduction strategies, and to constitute a forum to cooperate on water supply issues within the Upper Neuse River Basin by:

The 1998 Executive Summary provides information on the UNRBA's goals and objectives, accomplishments to date, and examples of expected benefits to the association's members.

The following table shows the jurisdictions in the watershed, the estimated number of households in the Upper Neuse Basin, total area in the Upper Neuse Basin, and proportion of the water supply system's average daily raw water demand from Upper Neuse River water supply reservoirs as of January 2004:

Jurisdiction	Total Area (acres) within Upper Neuse River Watershed (percentage of watershed area)		Year 2000 Number of Households (and percentage of watershed total)		Proportion of Total Public Water Supply Use (in Million Gallons per Day)
Durham County	130,898	(26.5%)	16,820	(21.6%)	N/A
Franklin County	5,327	(1.1%)	460	(0.6%)	N/A
Granville County	84,726	(17.2%)	3,475	(4.5%)	N/A
Orange County	125,559	(25.4%)	10,330	(13.3%)	N/A
Person County	83,089	(16.8%)	3,120	(4.0%)	N/A
Wake County	64,088	(13.0%)	8,620	(11.1%)	N/A
Creedmoor	1,358	(0.3%)	370	(0.5%)	0.41%
Durham	24,913	(5.0%)	30,620	(39.3%)	40.11%
Hillsborough	2,482	(0.5%)	2,000	(2.6%)	2.40%
Raleigh	559	(0.1%)	1,170	(1.5%)	53.86%
Roxboro*	504	(0.1%)	200	(0.3%)	N/A
Stem	506	(0.1%)	65	(0.1%)	N/A
Wake Forest	343	(0.1%)	150	(0.2%)	N/A
Butner	4,384	(0.9%)	510	(0.7%)	N/A
South Granville Water and Sewer Authority	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	3.22%
TOTAL			79,910	(100%)	100%

The UNRBA Board of Directors is comprised of one Director and one Alternate Director from each of the thirteen jurisdictions in the watershed. Additionally, the County Soil and Water Conservation Districts elect one Director and Alternate Director to the UNRBA Board. The Directors and Alternates are listed below:

Corporate Members	Director	Alternate Director
Town of Butner	Thomas Marrow	(vacant)
City of Creedmoor	Tim Karan	Tom Mercer
City of Durham	William Bell	Cora Cole-McFadden
Durham County	Becky Heron	Ellen Reckhow
Franklin County	Harry Foy	Scott Hammerbacher
Granville County	Ronald R. Alligood	Barry Baker
Town of Hillsborough	Mike Gering	Margaret Hauth
Orange County	Pam Hemminger, Chair	Tom Davis
Person County	Jimmy Clayton	Heidi York
City of Raleigh	Nancy McFarlane	Kenny Waldroup
Town of Stem	Ellen Wilkins	(vacant)
Wake County	Stan Norwalk	Bettie Lou Ward
Town of Wake Forest	Margaret Stinnett	Scott Miles
South Granville Water and Sewer Authority	Lindsay Mize	Fred Dancy
Soil and Water Conservation Districts	Danielle Adams (Durham County)	Donnie Woodlief (Wake County)

The TAC is composed of member government staff and elected officials with expertise in watershed management, stormwater management, land/agricultural conservation programs, planning, water treatment and wastewater treatment.

Jurisdiction	Members
Durham County	Chris Roberts	Jane Korest
Franklin County	Scott Hammerbacher
Granville County	Barry Baker
Orange County	Tom Davis	Tom Konsler	Terry Hackett
Person County	Paula Murphy	Mitch Pergerson
Wake County	Tom Hill	Melinda Clark	Britt Stoddard
Town of Butner	Thomas Marrow	Melissa Hodges
City of Creedmoor	Dave Roesler
City of Durham	Kathleen Snyder	John Cox	Reggie Hicks	Helen Youngblood
Town of Hillsborough	Margaret Hauth	Kenny Keel
City of Raleigh	Mark Senior	Amy Hathaway	Ed Buchan
Town of Stem	Jack Day
Town of Wake Forest	Scott Miles	Holly Spring

The ISC is composed of members of the Board of Directors and the Technical Advisory Committee. The ISC advises the UNRBA on implementation planning and issues.

Name	Local Affiliation	UNRBA Affiliation
Kent Ray	City of Creedmoor	Board of Directors
Tommy Craven	City of Raleigh	Board of Directors
George Rogers	City of Raleigh, Public Utilities	Technical Advisory Committee (Chair)
Nancy Newell	City of Durham, Water Management	Technical Advisory Committee
Patrick Young	Franklin County, Planning	Board of Directors
Barry Baker	Granville County, Planning	Technical Advisory Committee
Melinda Clark	Wake County, Environmental Services	Technical Advisory Committee

The UNRBA has adopted formal bylaws to guide the organization. Click here to download a copy (requires free Adobe Acrobat Reader).

Sarah Bruce has worked for UNRBA in various capacities since 2004 and was appointed UNRBA Executive Director in October 2007. Sarah supports the UNRBA's Board of Directors, Technical Advisory Committee, and various planning and management activities in the Falls Lake watershed. Major focuses of Sarah's work include implementation of the Upper Neuse Watershed Management Plan and the Falls Lake Nutrient Management Strategy.

Sarah has lived in the Triangle since she moved from Sedona, Arizona to attend UNC-Chapel Hill as an undergraduate. In 1998, she received her BA in Interdisciplinary Studies, a self-developed curriculum on the interrelationship of culture and ecology. She received her graduate degree in City & Regional Planning from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2004. Before she joined the UNRBA and TJCOG, she worked for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and for the NC Division of Emergency Management doing hazard mitigation planning. Sarah is also a Certified Floodplain Manager.

Heather Saunders joined the UNBRA in December of 2007 in order to work on watershed and restoration planning and assist the UNRBA Technical Advisory Committee in addressing implementation and planning strategies.

Heather has been a Raleigh resident since 1994, when she moved here from Northern Virginia to pursue her undergraduate degree in Natural Resources from NC State. After completing her BS, she worked for a private environmental consulting firm in Raleigh focusing on stream and wetland delineations, restoration, monitoring, and Section 401/404 permitting. After working as an environmental consultant for almost four years, Heather left her position to travel abroad and pursue an MSc in Aquatic Resource Management at Kings College in London. Her year abroad allowed her to focus on the management of freshwater, estuarine, and marine systems and increased her capacity for understanding the challenge of sustainably managing water resources. Heather obtained her MSc in September 2007.

Mike Ciriello joined the Kerr-Tar Council of Governments staff in August 2009. Mike works on a contract basis with the UNRBA with local governments in the Franklin, Granville, and Person County areas of the basin.

Mike has Bachelor's degrees in International Relations and Public Affairs from George Washington University and a Master's in Landscape Architecture with concentrations in Environmental and Regional Planning and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from North Carolina State University. Mike's environment and urban design research has taken him to Alaska, the Dominican Republic, Finland, Germany, Guatemala, Haiti, Italy, Russia, and the Turks and Caicos. His work has included the study of regional environments, historic human settlements, and comparative studies on impact of and potential for US development. Mike is a member of the International Studies and Landscape Architecture Honor Societies.