The University should follow the steps laid out by a community group to clean up the mess a mysterious UNC research facility made near a local creek.
The state issued a notice of violation to the University in December after the Research Resource Facility leaked treated animal waste water into Collins Creek, in the rural western part of the county.
This is not the first time the facility has had problems with leaks. Two other incidents also have been reported, one of which released an estimated 630 gallons of treated animal wastewater.
Now members of the community are calling for more accountability and transparency from the University about the issue.
Mary Beth Koza, the director of Environment, Health and Safety at UNC, stated that she was not sure how concerned the local community would be about the issue.
Of course the community should be apprehensive. Koza’s naiveté downplays the potentially harmful effects of dog and pig waste.
Besides, community members had already raised concerns about an incinerator inside the facility used to dispose of animal carcasses.
On top of all this, the incidents occurred at Collins Creek, which eventually empties into Jordan Lake, a reservoir that serves the local area.
Advocacy group Preserve Rural Orange called for more open communication from the University, an open tour of the facility and testing of facility waters for toxins and pathogens.
The group also requested that the University stop using the incinerator because it has experienced malfunctions in the past.
These are reasonable requests and the University should work to heed them. At the very least, the University needs to be fully transparent about the work that goes on in these facilities.
The effects of the leak on the surrounding area have yet to be determined, but the University must take every step it can to make up for its negligence.
