Agenda - 03-03-1999 - 10a - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 Insofar as Orange County interests are concerned, there are several potential implications to any decision as to how a Jordan Lake raw water intake /pumping facility is constructed and controlled. Jordan Lake represents a future (ten or more years in the future) supply of water for at least the southern part of the County. It is incumbent on the County - probably through OWASA - to insure that whatever option is chosen to construct and control the raw water withdrawal facilities preserves the ability to use Jordan Lake as a County water supply. It is highly probable that any scenario will physically impact OWASA's Jordan Lake property. Therefore, under any construction/control scenario, OWASA and the County must take the precautions that are required to preserve the overall usefulness of that property for the purposes for which it was originally intended. These uses include, but are not necessarily limited to, locating OWASA raw water pumping and transmission facilities, and perhaps water treatment facilities as well. Insofar as the entire region is concerned, it is probably best if the western intake /pumping facility is financed, constructed and/or controlled by the state. The state could then ensure that all holders of withdrawal rights on the eastern side of Jordan Lake have adequate access to the water. Apex and Cary own and control the east side facilities and thus control access to the water drawn through those facilities. They have, for all intents and purposes, shut off or drastically limited access to Jordan Lake from the east side. The issue of the Apex/Cary control of the east side of Jordan Lake is the primary reason that Chatham County has been forced to seek another means of accessing the lake. If the state does not agree to take responsibility for the western intake /pumping facility, the second best option is for all of the potential water suppliers that would normally use the western facility to move forward with a joint financing and control arrangement for the facility. While this option does create difficulties in terms of coordinating financing, construction, operation, management, etc., it does provide perhaps the best means of avoiding the access problems evidenced at the eastern intake /pumping facilities. Perhaps the least favorable outcome would be for Chatham County to be forced to construct its own intake and pumping facility. It is unlikely that Chatham would be able to finance development of intake /pumping facilities of a capacity sufficient to meet the ultimate demands of all water suppliers seeking access to raw water through these facilities. Accordingly, this option would provide no opportunity to coordinate western side access to Jordan Lake's water supplies. An advantage inherent in either the state or Chatham County taking responsibility for the intake /pumping facility would be that the OWASA customer base would not be financially affected by the associated capital expenditures, at least in the short term. RECOMMENDATION: The Administration recommends that the BOCC: 1. Receive and review the attached material including the draft of the letter providing input to OWASA (Draft letter was prepared prior to the 17 February 1999 meeting discussed in the Engineer's note) 2. Identify the major issues the BOCC wishes to address, including any new issues raised in the Engineer's note 3. Direct staff to revise the letter as necessary to accurately reflect BOCC intentions 4. Direct staff to bring the revised letter back for BOCC review and approval at a future meeting