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. Seven (of 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%

Each of the thirteen member jurisdictions in the watershed, the six county Soil and Water Conservation Districts collectively, and South Granville Water and Sewer Authority elect one Director and one Alternate Director to the UNRBA Board of Directors. The Directors and Alternates are listed below:

Corporate Members	Director	Alternate Director
Town of Butner	Bill McKellar	Thomas Marrow
City of Creedmoor	Jimmy Minor	Rick Flowe
City of Durham	Cora Cole-McFadden	Reginald Hicks
Durham County	Ellen Reckhow	Drew Cummings
Franklin County	Harry Foy	Scott Hammerbacher
Granville County	Edgar Smoak	Barry Baker
Town of Hillsborough	Mike Gering	Margaret Hauth
Orange County	Pam Hemminger, Chair	Tom Davis
Person County	Jimmy Clayton	Sybil Tate
City of Raleigh	Randall Stegner	Kenny Waldroup
Town of Stem	Nancy Alford	(vacant)
Wake County	Ervin Portman	Melinda Clark
Town of Wake Forest	Scott Miles	Margaret Stinnett
South Granville Water and Sewer Authority	Lindsay Mize	Fred Dancy

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of the Upper Neuse River Basin Association is composed of member government staff and other stakeholders and partners with expertise in watershed & stormwater management, land & agricultural conservation, planning & development management, and water & wastewater treatment. The group meets on an ad-hoc basis to coordinate activities and advise the UNRBA Board of Directors.

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	Kurt Smith	Melinda Clark	Britt Stoddard
Town of Butner	Thomas Marrow	Melissa Hodges
City of Creedmoor	Dave Roesler
City of Durham	Sandi Wilbur	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	Ellen Wilkins
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).

Forrest Westall was named Upper Neuse River Basin Association Executive Director in January 2012. Forrest's professional career spans more than 35 years and has been devoted to the wise stewardship of the water resources of North Carolina. Forrest has extensive experience in water quality management and has helped develop and administered most every aspect of NC's Water Quality Program. He has directly contributed to the development of laws, regulations and procedures that influence how the State manages surface water across the entire state.

In December 2004, Forrest retired from State government after over 28 years of service. For his significant contributions to his native State, Forrest was awarded The Order of the Long Leaf Pine in 2005. He joined McGill Associates, a respected Asheville firm, and is a Principal with the company. Forrest was appointed to the NC Environmental Management Commission in 2006 and the NC Mining Commission in 2007.

Forrest's unique experience and perspective has served him well in both the private and public sectors. In addition to advising and assisting many local governments and private clients he has served as an advisor to many non-profit, local government, and advocacy groups on environmental and natural resource issues. In 2011, Forrest was presented with a Land-of-Sky Regional Council Friend of the River Award for his careen contribution to water quality in North Carolina.

Forrest's background includes efforts to address many water quality issues in North Carolina including the Chowan River, the Neuse River, and the Cape Fear River Basins, and he helped establish many critical agency water quality management approaches such as water quality modeling, biological monitoring, the effluent toxicity program, the pretreatment program, and basinwide management planning. Forrest has been deeply involved with the development of eutrophication management in NC's inland and coastal waters since starting his career with the State. His intimate familiarity with the difficult public policy issues related to managing the development of watersheds while working to balance the need for growth with maintaining good water quality provides a solid foundation for guiding the work of the Upper Neuse River Basin Association.

Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering - North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering - North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina