The New River is a 50-mile (80-km) long river in southeastern

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It empties into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. The river has been plagued in more recent years by pollution by solid waste. It rises in northwestern

Onslow County Onslow County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 204,576. Its county seat is Jacksonville. The county was created in 1734 as Onslow Precinct and gained county status in 1739. Onslo ...

and flows east-southeast past

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, where it widens into a

tidal estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

approximately two miles (3.2 km) wide. As an estuary it meanders through

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune () is a United States Armed Forces, United States military training facility in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Its of beaches make the base a major area for Amphibious warfare, amphibious assault training, and its ...

and enters the Atlantic in

Onslow Bay Onslow Bay is an indentation of the North Carolina coast, between Cape Fear in the south and Cape Lookout in the north. Thirteen barrier islands form the shore of the bay. It is part of the open Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the sec ...

, via the New River Inlet between two

barrier island Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of Dune, dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything fro ...

s. The Atlantic

Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following th ...

crosses the entrance of the river between the coast and the barrier island. The river is periodically dredged for the convenience of commercial fishing operations. The New River Inlet has been moved by man via dredging projects. Since the fishing industry and political gains are greater by continuing this dredging project, it is causing the southern island in the inlet to slowly disappear. Since the man-made inlet was placed north of the island, the island has begun to wash away from erosion by the currents.

Environmental concerns

The New River is the site of several environmentally damaging hog-waste spills with the large number of hog farms in North Carolina, which is the second highest hog producing state. In 1999,

Hurricane Floyd Hurricane Floyd was a very powerful Cape Verde hurricane which struck the Bahamas and the East Coast of the United States. It was the sixth named storm, fourth hurricane, and third major hurricane in the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season. Floyd tr ...

hit North Carolina, flooding hog waste lagoons and releasing 25 million gallons of manure into the New River, which contaminated the water supply and cause widespread death of aquatic life. Ronnie Kennedy, county director for environmental health, said that of 310 private wells he had tested for contamination since the storm, 9 percent, or three times the average across eastern North Carolina, had

fecal coliform A fecal coliform (British: faecal coliform) is a facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped, gram-negative, non-sporulating bacterium. Coliform bacteria generally originate in the intestines of warm-blooded animals. Fecal coliforms are capable of growth ...

bacteria. Such contamination is typically cause for immediate action. Attempts by environmentalists to impose stricter regulations over swine farm waste management in the state have failed. In 2005,

Environmental Defense Environmental Defense Fund or EDF (formerly known as Environmental Defense) is a United States-based nonprofit environmental advocacy group. The group is known for its work on issues including global warming, ecosystem restoration, oceans, and hu ...

and Frontline Farmers drafted a bill, which would ban manure lagoons in North Carolina. The plan gained sponsorship by Representative Carolyn Justice in the Clean Hog Farms Act of 2005. However, the bill was altered, becoming Bill 1730 the Clean Hog Farms Act of 2005-2, which instead provided incentives to hog farmers for switching to more environmentally friendly waste management technologies. Despite this change, the bill did not make it through the General Assembly of North Carolina.

References

External links

White Oak-New RiverkeeperNew River Foundation
{{authority control Rivers of North Carolina Rivers of Onslow County, North Carolina Tributaries of the White Oak River

Environmental concerns

See also

References

External links