North Carolina’s problem with coal ash improved a wee bit on Wednesday without anybody lifting a finger.

The state previously burdened by 33 ash-storage basins jettisoned one of those ponds in the blink of an eye.

No, it had nothing to do with the law that took effect Wednesday prohibiting new coal ash ponds and ordering those that exist to be shut down by 2029.

Duke Energy and state officials simply agreed on a new way of counting the utility’s ponds to lower the overall number but, unfortunately, without eliminating an ounce of ash in the process.

The revision began with some Duke Energy engineers who were preparing documents for submission to state government, said company spokeswoman Erin Culbert. They decided the best way to define an “ash basin” was by linking it to the dam that held back its potentially harmful contents, she said.

“By that definition, an area that was previously considered a separate basin at Buck Steam Station is really part of an adjacent basin’s impoundment,” Culbert said in an email, referring to the retired, coal-fired plant near Salisbury.

“This reduced the number of basins at Buck from four to three, and the number in North Carolina to 32.”