Agenda - 01-27-2009 - 2 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

5 In the fall and winter of 2008, the discussions of the working group turned to operational components, and the creation of a draft Memorandum of Understanding, which would be executed by the partners to formalize the efforts to date. The draft MOU created by FountainWorks (attached), creates a Jordan Lake Regional Water Supply Partnership (or Jordan Lake Partnership) that: • Has a goal of"collaboratively defining Jordan Lake's role in a long-term sustainable and secure regional water supply for the Research Triangle Region: • "Will operate under the principles of regional collaboration, sustainable water supply, environmental stewardship, mutual and collective benefit, proportional representation, and financial stability;" • Creates a Partnership Management Team to provide overall guidance for activities under the MOU, consisting of the Manager or designee of each signatory, to be chaired by the Durham City Manager or designee; and • Designates the City of Durham as the lead agency in the partnership effort, acting as the fiscal and contracting agent for the Partnership, with advice of the Partnership Management team. During the fall discussions, other jurisdictions became aware of the effort and part of the conversations— including Hillsborough, Apex and Pittsboro. Each signatory to the MOU will pay a share of the costs of the project on one of two levels (based on number of water service connections). Orange County, if it chooses to sign, would be a "Level II" member with a $2,500 annual fee. Orange County's role in the Partnership would be unusual, as the only non water provider to currently hold an allocation. However, with one-half of the County within the Jordan Lake watershed—including some of the most-stringently protected sub-basins of Jordan Lake— an argument can be made that the County has an important role to play in the Partnership - to retain rights to the drinking water that it plays a key role in protecting, and to ensure access for the future water needs of County citizens from this sole large long-term regional water source. However, this also means that the County(if it joins the Partnership) will need a provider partner such as OWASA or Durham, when the time comes to make this water available. There is a potential second degree of partnership, with the actual infrastructure that would make new water service available. There is also the related long-term issue of possible Inter-Basin Transfer(I8T), which is a matter that some potential partners (including Hillsborough, Durham and Orange) may have to address. IBT's require an additional level of approval from the Environmental Management Commission, and occur when water from one river basin is distributed from one basin and then treated and released into another basin. This would be the case if Orange County opted to use its