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5 <br /> Orange County will be impacted by the proposed new rules in the following <br /> manner. The form and degree of impact will be determined by the subarea <br /> ("arm") of the watershed any given area drains into. As shown in the box below, <br /> there are two such "arms" within Orange County (also shown on Map 2 on the <br /> following page). The nutrient reduction rates for the two "arms" are very different, <br /> as shown in the box. <br /> Jordan Lake"Arms"and The reason for the differences in required nutrient <br /> Required Nutrient reductions are based on two related factors: <br /> Reductions <br /> 1) The nature of Jordan Lake is unusual, with water <br /> Upper New Hope entering the northern part of the lake via the Upper <br /> (in Orange County this New Hope Arm and moving slowly down the length <br /> includes Chapel Hill, of the lake, while Haw River Arm water enters the <br /> Carrboro and the New Hope lake much closer to the dam at the southern-most <br /> and Morgan Creek basins) part of the lake. As such, the Upper New Hope arm <br /> -35%Nitrogen is much smaller and proximate to the lake, providing <br /> - 5%Phosphorus a quick transport time to the lake, but thence slow <br /> Haw River Arm movement through the lake. <br /> (in Orange County,this <br /> includes western an 2) Therefore, despite the fact that the Haw River <br /> southwestern Orange County, Arm contributes three times as much nitrogen as the <br /> and Mebane) Upper New Hope Arm, the hydraulic retention time <br /> -8%Nitrogen for Haw River water in Jordan Lake is only five <br /> -5%Phosphorus days, compared to 418 days for water from the <br /> Upper New Hope. <br /> As stated in the proposed rules, "Each arm of the lake has reduction goals, total <br /> allowable loads, point source wasteload allocations, and nonpoint source load <br /> allocations for both nitrogen and phosphorus based on a field-calibrated nutrient <br /> response model " This means that nutrient reductions must come from point <br /> sources such as wastewater treatment plants as well as from non-point sources <br /> such as agricultural operations/fields and stormwater from new and existing <br /> development. The requirements for each of these non-point sources are <br /> discussed below: <br /> Agriculture <br /> Commercial agriculture must collectively meet the nutrient reduction goals for <br /> both nitrogen and phosphorus (as shown in the box above) within six years <br /> through voluntary enlistment of new practices, or nine years through additional <br /> measures imposed by the EMC. Initially, Watershed Oversight Committees will <br /> be established to pursue the voluntary measures, and annual reporting will be at <br /> the county scale. Accounting will be completed three years after the effective <br /> date of the rules to determine the reductions in nutrient loading which have <br /> occurred from the voluntary measures since the 2001 baseline. Three months <br /> 3 <br />