Agenda - 09-15-2009 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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2 water supply wells, and which appear to be suitable to use for the purpose of gathering long- term groundwater level information. Several wells fitting this description have been identified to date. For the partner agency wells initial approval of draft Memoranda of Agreements (MOAs) for the use of three existing bedrock wells .have been reached with the well owners. The wells are owned by Duke University (Duke), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) and the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River (ERA). Once these MOAs are finalized, Orange County will be able to utilize these three bedrock wells as part of the network at a considerable cost-savings. Updated MOAs for each of these wells are included as Attachments 1 through 3, and are ready for Board authorization. Attachment 4 is a list of detailed steps that are necessary to complete for each of the existing wells being considered for inclusion in the bedrock portion of the network. In addition, Orange County owns three existing wells that have been identified and are proposed for use in the network. These wells are 1) a well on Rocky Ridge Road on land leased by the County, 2) a former supply well at the Blackwood Farm on Old 86 (which has Hillsborough public water service), and 3) a well on the former Paydarfar property, part of the future Millhouse Road Park site. There are also two wells present in the Duke Forest Hydrogeologic Station within Duke Forest which are owned and operated by the Division of Water Quality (DWQ) and appear to be available for incorporation into the network. One additional existing well is also potentially available for inclusion in the Orange Well Net. However, the site, the former 911 Center on New Hope Church Road, is slated for divestiture. Methods of securing long-term use of this well (which also has public water service from Hillsborough) may be worthwhile to explore as part of divestiture. In summary, nine existing potentially-suitable bedrock wells have been identified at different locations across the County. Utilization of these existing wells appears warranted not only because of the cost savings that will be realized, but also because these bedrock wells are suitable for the establishment of the bedrock component of the proposed observation well network. Approval of the draft MOAs, further analysis of the existing wells, and the purchase of required instrumentation are necessary to begin network operation and data collection. These steps are on-going using existing funds, as shown in Attachment 5, and are likely to continue to be implemented during FY2009-10. Gathering of groundwater level information from regolith wells would be delayed until additional funds are available for this project in subsequent fiscal years. Attachment 4 is a proposed timeline for the completion of steps necessary to allow the initiation of data gathering from the bedrock wells in the network. This timeline illustrates that the majority of the steps necessary to permit the use of the existing wells described above are anticipated to be completed by the end of October 2009, with initial data collection anticipated to begin in early spring 2010.