Commissioners Approve Monitoring Station on Lower Neuse

The Johnston County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 20 gave approval for the installation of a water-monitoring station on the Neuse River near Richardson Bridge Road.

The county plans a second water plant nearby, and flow data from the station will help Public Utilities decide when to draw water from the river or a nearby reservoir.

The Neuse already has monitoring stations near Clayton and Goldsboro. “The reason we’d want one in the middle is because it’s really close to our proposed lower Neuse water intake,” Kim Rineer of Public Utilities told County Commissioners.

“We can’t just use the Clayton data,” she explained, “because after (Clayton), Swift Creek, Middle Creek and Black Creek, all major water systems, enter into the river and change the dynamics of the river.”

The same thing happens near Goldsboro, she added.

"The area near Richardson Bridge is also a huge wetland," Rineer said. "Without data from the monitoring station, it’s hard to know the wetland’s impact on river flow. So it’s an area that USGS has been wanting to study for a long time and didn’t have funding for."

Under an agreement that commissioners approved on Oct. 20, the county will pay the U.S. Geological Survey $108,000 over five years to install and operate the station.

The state also wants access to the data, Rineer says. “The Division of Water Resources has asked for this kind of information from us as we work towards a lower Neuse water-supply intake in the area,” she said.

Commissioner Patrick Harris, a former Smithfield fire chief, said flow data from the monitoring station would be a boon to public safety. “For the sheriff’s department and other departments around the county that run rescue on this river, that’s really important data to have,” he said. “I think it’s a very good move and very low cost considering the amount and type of data that you’re going to receive from it.”

It’s anyone’s guess when the USGS can begin work. Like other federal agencies, it’s closed amid the government shutdown.

“They cannot get started until the federal government’s back in action,” Rineer said. “But as soon as this agreement’s signed and the government’s back in action, they’ll get started with ordering the equipment and installing it. And we’ll get data as soon as it’s installed. And it’ll be real-time, hourly data.”

Page last updated on:  November 14, 2025