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HOW NORTH CAROLINA IS EFFECTED ECONOMICALLY BY WATER POLLUTION About 80% of the State’s surveyed freshwater rivers and streams have good water quality that fully supports aquatic life uses, 17% have fair water quality that partially supports aquatic life use ....

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.... in the mid-1980s and completed a modernization program in 1993 that will reduce water usage and discharges. About 94% of the estuaries and sounds in North Carolina fgully support designated uses. Agriculture, urban runoff, septic tanks, and point source discharges are the leading sources of nutrients, bacteria, and low dissolved oxygen that degrade estuaries. About half of the people in North Carolina use ground water as their primary supply of drinking water. Ground water quality is generally good. The leading source of ground water contamination is leaking underground storage tanks, which contaminate ground water with gasoline, diesel fuel, ....