At a work session last week, one of the items that Vance County commissioners discussed was a notice from the state’s division of water quality about two instances of excessive lead levels in county drinking water.
Although the source has not been determined to date, the county’s Special Projects Manager Frankie Nobles told the commissioners during that work session on Nov. 20 that proper notification about the lead levels is one point that the county must address by Wednesday, Nov. 29.
In addition to publishing and posting flyers, Nobles said additional information would be sent out in upcoming bills.
The county buys its water from the city, and Kerr Lake Regional Water System director Christy Lipscomb told WIZS News Monday by phone that she was unaware of the notice received by county staff.
Lipscomb said regulations state that water systems must perform 60 point of testing every three years to check lead and copper levels. And KLRWS is on what Lipscomb called a “diminished schedule” of only 30 tests every three years because there are so few problems with elevated levels.
The most recent testing took place in August, Lipscomb said. The result? Zero “hits,” or problems.
The two locations – one on Warrenton Road and one on Vicksboro Road – showed twice the allowable levels of lead at .030 MG/L. The threshold is .015 MG/L.
“The local health department regularly tests for child lead exposure in our child health clinics (it’s a simple blood test),” said Granville Vance Public Health Director Lisa Harrison. “If any levels are elevated, we have a team of one environmental health specialist together with one nurse who go together into the home to do further environmental testing,” Harrison told WIZS News in an email Monday.
Child health appointments can be made by calling the health department for those who wish to have their children tested. This can also be done easily at a local doctor’s office or pediatrician’s office. The GVPH team is notified regardless if there are concerns for any child tested for lead exposure, Harrison explained.
To learn more, visit https://www.gvph.org/services/environmental-health-services/childrens-environmental-health/
The source of the lead most likely is not from the water supply itself, but from pipes or other sources at the two individual locations. No details about the two addresses were shared at the work session.
Commissioner Dan Brummitt noted during the work session that the water system specs provided for construction without use of materials that contain lead, including the use of solder.
Water doesn’t naturally contain lead, but water can be contaminated with lead through lead pipes and other infrastructure used to bring water to individual households. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most common sources of lead in drinking water are lead pipes, faucets and plumbing fixtures. Certain pipes that carry drinking water from the water source to the home may contain lead. Household plumbing fixtures, welding solder, and pipe fittings made before 1986 may also contain lead.
Find more information at https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/prevention/sources/water.htm
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The Local Skinny! Maria Parham Health Receives Medicaid Expansion Funds
/by WIZS StaffMaria Parham Health joins more than 100 hospitals in the state’s 70 rural counties to share close to $2.6 billion federal funds that will be used to provide support as the state rolls out Medicaid expansion.
Friday, Dec. 1 marks the start date for NC DHHS to launch the Medicaid expansion across North Carolina, meaning an estimated 600,000 people will be eligible for full Medicaid coverage. Almost 300,000 people currently with limited Medicaid family planning benefits will automatically be enrolled.
In a statement to WIZS News, MPH Public Information Officer Donna Young said “Maria Parham Health is proud to join hospitals and health systems statewide in celebrating the launch of Medicaid expansion.” The Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program (HASP) funds enable hospitals to pay for the non-federal share costs of Medicaid expansion efforts, and will “strengthen the state’s healthcare delivery network and ensure greater access to healthcare, especially for those residing here in Vance County,” Young stated.
“These payments to hospitals are a lifeline and critical as we work to strengthen rural hospitals and health systems in North Carolina,” said NC HHS Secretary Kody H. Kinsley. “The money will ensure people covered by Medicaid and Medicaid expansion have access to comprehensive physical and behavioral health care services in the communities they live in.”
Gov. Roy Cooper called Medicaid expansion “a monumental achievement that will save lives and provide better health care while sending billions to our economy.” “We’re beginning to see the real-life impacts of this extraordinary win for North Carolinians through these first payments to our rural hospitals that have been struggling for years to keep their doors open,” Cooper stated.
Medicaid expansion and HASP will be financed through new assessments on North Carolina hospitals and will allow the state to draw down more than $8 billion each year from the federal government based on expected ultimate expansion enrollment. This will have a historic impact on individuals across the state, including the more than 4.6 million people living in one of the 70 rural counties across North Carolina.
The HASP payments are calculated based on in-network Medicaid managed care payments to acute care hospitals, critical access hospitals, hospitals owned or controlled by the University of North Carolina Health Care System and ECU Health Medical Center.
To learn more about Medicaid enrollment and eligibility, call the MPH helpline at 252.923.3747 or visit www.mariaparham.com/medicaid.
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WIZS Radio Local News Audio 11-28-23 Noon
/by Bill HarrisClick Play to Listen. On Air at 8am, 12pm, 5pm M-F
WIZS Radio ~ 100.1FM/1450AM
Cooperative Extension With Paul McKenzie: What Works in the Garden
/by Bill HarrisListen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.
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Vance County Manager Thanks Staff Leadership Team
/by John C. RoseThe new county manager for Vance County, Renee Perry, started November 1, 2023, and on November 20 as a Board of Commissioners work session wrapped up, she gave thanks to county staff and named her leadership team.
“I’m coming up on week three, and I just wanted to sing high praises to staff. They’ve been wonderful with helping me get acclimated, and I would just say that Vance County has some jewels and especially in administration,” Perry said. Perry said her leadership team consists of the following:
In the mid-October announcement by the Board of Commissioners of Perry’s appointment, Board Chair Yolanda Feimster stated that a recruitment process over the summer resulted in Perry’s selection and that Perry “will assist the board in continuing to achieve its ongoing goals as well as execute major capital projects.”
TownTalk: Follow-Up On Report Of Elevated Lead Levels In Two County Locations
/by WIZS StaffAt a work session last week, one of the items that Vance County commissioners discussed was a notice from the state’s division of water quality about two instances of excessive lead levels in county drinking water.
Although the source has not been determined to date, the county’s Special Projects Manager Frankie Nobles told the commissioners during that work session on Nov. 20 that proper notification about the lead levels is one point that the county must address by Wednesday, Nov. 29.
In addition to publishing and posting flyers, Nobles said additional information would be sent out in upcoming bills.
The county buys its water from the city, and Kerr Lake Regional Water System director Christy Lipscomb told WIZS News Monday by phone that she was unaware of the notice received by county staff.
Lipscomb said regulations state that water systems must perform 60 point of testing every three years to check lead and copper levels. And KLRWS is on what Lipscomb called a “diminished schedule” of only 30 tests every three years because there are so few problems with elevated levels.
The most recent testing took place in August, Lipscomb said. The result? Zero “hits,” or problems.
The two locations – one on Warrenton Road and one on Vicksboro Road – showed twice the allowable levels of lead at .030 MG/L. The threshold is .015 MG/L.
“The local health department regularly tests for child lead exposure in our child health clinics (it’s a simple blood test),” said Granville Vance Public Health Director Lisa Harrison. “If any levels are elevated, we have a team of one environmental health specialist together with one nurse who go together into the home to do further environmental testing,” Harrison told WIZS News in an email Monday.
Child health appointments can be made by calling the health department for those who wish to have their children tested. This can also be done easily at a local doctor’s office or pediatrician’s office. The GVPH team is notified regardless if there are concerns for any child tested for lead exposure, Harrison explained.
To learn more, visit https://www.gvph.org/services/environmental-health-services/childrens-environmental-health/
The source of the lead most likely is not from the water supply itself, but from pipes or other sources at the two individual locations. No details about the two addresses were shared at the work session.
Commissioner Dan Brummitt noted during the work session that the water system specs provided for construction without use of materials that contain lead, including the use of solder.
Water doesn’t naturally contain lead, but water can be contaminated with lead through lead pipes and other infrastructure used to bring water to individual households. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most common sources of lead in drinking water are lead pipes, faucets and plumbing fixtures. Certain pipes that carry drinking water from the water source to the home may contain lead. Household plumbing fixtures, welding solder, and pipe fittings made before 1986 may also contain lead.
Find more information at https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/prevention/sources/water.htm
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WIZS Radio Local News Audio 11-27-23 Noon
/by Bill HarrisClick Play to Listen. On Air at 8am, 12pm, 5pm M-F
WIZS Radio ~ 100.1FM/1450AM
Cooperative Extension with Wayne Rowland: Fall Planted Bulbs
/by Bill HarrisListen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.
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NCDOT Awards $3.5 Million Contract For Road Improvements in Franklin County; Work Begins Spring 2024
/by WIZS StaffMore than 21 miles of local roadway will be updated across Franklin County beginning next spring.
The N.C. Department of Transportation recently awarded the work to Carolina Sunrock LLC of Raleigh. The $3.5 million contract includes milling, resurfacing and reconstructing shoulders along portions of seven roads. Work should start in March 2024 and will be completed in October 2025.
The following roads are included in the project:
Granville Commissioners Makes Changes To Land Development Code
/by WIZS StaffInformation courtesy of Granville County Public Information Officer Terry Hobgood
The Granville County Board of Commissioners has approved changes to the county’s Land Development Code that increases minimum lot sizes of “rural cluster” subdivisions.
During its meeting on Monday, Nov 20, the commissioners continued a public hearing that had begun on Oct. 16, according to information from Granville County Public Information Officer Terry Hobgood.
After hearing input from the public, as well as from county planning and zoning staff, the board unanimously approved changes to the plan, which more than doubles the minimum lot size requirement – to 40,000 square feet from the previous 12,000 square feet.
In addition, the minimum lot width is increased to 80 feet from 60 feet and the street and side setbacks are now 50 feet and 15 feet, respectively – up from the previous 25 feet and 7.5 feet).
This change doesn’t affect existing regulations for conventional major subdivisions, family subdivisions or minor subdivisions, which is defined as a subdivision with fewer than 10 lots.
Elevated Lead Levels Found In Two Recent County Water Samples
/by WIZS StaffSome county water customers may find some information in their upcoming water bills letting them know that some recent samples have tested high for lead.
The Vance County Board of Commissioners heard from Special Projects Coordinator Frankie Nobles during the Monday work session, who outlined the next steps required to address the violation. The county must comply with nine steps set out by the N.C. Division of Enviornmental Quality in a report Nobles received on Nov. 2.
He singled out two locations, one on Warrenton Road and one on Vicksboro Road, that were found to be at .030 MG/L (milligrams per liter) – double allowable threshold of .015 MG/L.
“It’s not a concern that’s affected our whole system,” Nobles told commissioners.
Vance County Manager Renee Perry said that, in addition to informing the public in a variety of ways about the levels, Envirolink – the county’s contracted water department – would perform more sampling to determine the source of the lead.
In an email to WIZS News Wednesday, Perry said the county has to perform a lead inventory to identify all the existing piping that contain elements with lead in it, and therefore need replacing. Pipe replacement is not part of Envirolink’s activities, she said.
There could be several possible causes, she said, including the source of water, the distribution system (material with lead components) and the sample point itself.
“Due the monitoring results, the lead was not detected in the majority of the sites, so we can conclude that neither the water source, nor the distribution system have these implications,” she said, which means the community is not exposed to a potentially harmful situation.
Perry said that once additional samples are analyzed, the county will get the results and send to the affected locations a consumer notice of lead tap water results.