Recent findings by the state water-quality division indicate Falls
is more polluted than rule-makers expected, particularly the Durham
County arm west of Interstate 85.

More than 50 percent of water samples from three western sites
exceeded pollution levels allowed by federal clean-water standards; the
rate at an Ellerbe Creek site was 84 percent.

"The western side of the lake is in poor condition," Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker said Tuesday.