A developer in Durham has agreed to pay for land protection and pollution controls to settle a lawsuit over the safety of Falls Lake, Raleigh’s primary drinking-water source.
The settlement resolves a 2023 lawsuit filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of Sound Rivers against Clayton Properties Group, which operates as Mungo Homes. It alleged the developer’s Sweetbrier subdivision site in southeast Durham was violating the Clean Water Act. The development has 616 lots on 216 acres on Olive Branch Road.
Sound Rivers, an environmental advocacy group, said that for two years before the lawsuit, water samples taken from the north and south ends of Sweetbrier showed sediment pollution levels 10 to 20 times higher than the state’s standard for healthy waterways. The group also documented over 300 instances of permit violations at the site, including the failure to properly install erosion controls…