Agenda - 08-17-1999 - 10a - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

08/06 /99 15:05 CHATHAM COUNTY MANAGERS OFFICE 4 9196443004 NO.686 P003/004 10 regional facility have stated that they do not have any regulatory influence regarding how Cary chooses to share its private facility with others. During the design period of the Chatham County Water Treatment Plant, Chatham County staff evaluated several different raw water alternatives to serve the plant including a partnership with Cary as well as an independent intake. Oversight and regulatory groups such as the state and the Army Corps of Engineers recommended very forcefully against the construction of a separate intake and urged the County to partner with Cary/Apex. At the tune, the Cary /Apex intake had a small amount of excess capacity that was dete=tied to be sufficient to meet Chatham County's short-term needs. Chatham County and Cary signed a 10 year contract with the understanding that future intake expansion efforts would include Chatham County. The contract clearly stated that Cary/Apex planned on sharing the use of its facility with others in the future. Since the time the original contract was signed, Cary has had high growth rates that have resulted in water demands exceeding their Jordan Lake allocation and their production capability. Cary has mgt=W an increased allocation from the state and has prepared engineering plans for system upgrades to increase their water supply. The upgrades include an expansion of the intake. According to Cary staff, the expansion plan did not take into consideration Chatham County's needs. For example, the engines working on the project never modeled Chatham County's usage in preparing the pump design. As a result, according to Cary, the intake does not have sufficient capacity to serve as a permanent water source for Chatham County's treatment plant. Cary's position towards a Chatham County partnership is not clear. In some correspondences, Cary has urged Chatham County to construct their own intake since Cary's growth projections show that there may not be any long -term surplus capacity in their facility. In outer responses, Cary has suggested that Chatham County carry out their own engineering study and propose modifications to the planned intake design for Cary to consider. Neither of the positions are conducive to regional cooperation and they have resulted in inefficient planning and needlessly duplicated engineering studies. Chatham county is currently studying possible design modifications for Cary to consider. Under the existing framework, Cary/Apex maintains complete control of their intake facility and they are under no obligation to make their facility available to others. In addition, some of Cary's political leadership has stated a desire to control growth in Cary by limiting the expansion of the water system including the intake. This type of restriction, while possibly acceptable for a private facility, makes the operation of a regional facility almost impossible. Chatham County has had numerous meetings with officials from, the Division of Water Resources and the Army Corps of Engineers to discuss the intake. Officials at these meetings, particularly officials from DWR have been reluctant to become involved in the situation. The general opinion has been that the intake is a private facility owned and operated by Cary /ApM and the organizations are unable to control how the facility is shared or not shared with others utilities c. The short and long term effects and implications of the recently publicized grammt fronded consouctiam of an interconnection betwaen Chatham Coawty and City of Durham water sysrenms. In the short- term, the Durham interconnect will be used to supplement Chatham County's raw water purchase from Cary/Apex, thereby allowing the County to stay within the 1.0 MGD limit established in the water purchase contract. Long-term, the interconnect could be used to supply water from Chatham County to the City of Durham. This option is