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r;:y name ~s Boyce gown. 1' m an ura-i~.e .,ouri-;.y -~Gx:idve~ . •,- ~:• su r,„ucr: attention having been given to the siting of a reservoir in Northern County, two things have been overlooked. The first is that a re servoi~~ not a foregone conclusion. but will be decided by the Orange County voters in Navembe r. The second is the reason for a reservoir. Hillsborough has recently offered water to OWASA and approved new water and sewer lines, so immediate water needs don't seem paramount. but for future growth and development a reservoir would be a necessity. Already there is a long list of developments waiting for water. Orange County taxpayers deserve to know what is being planned for their tax dollars, not just the purchase of land for a reservoir, but the development which will ensue and how this will affec~ taxes and the environment. To build a reservoir would be to repeat the same environmentally destructive patterns that have characterized the use of the Eno for generations. A reservoir might alleviate water needs far a few years, but would leave us in the future with the same old problems, only worsened. Them is another way, but it would mean changes in our relations with ourselves ; and with nature and a change from our current business as usual growth ethici to a steady-state society. These last are the thoughts of MXT scientists and other scholars. Y believe that the people are ready to make that transition, but that it is our institutions, governmental, educational and business, that are as yet unwilling to make the change. If our concern were truly with the restoration and preservation of the Eno, with learning its limits and living within those limits, there is an environmentally sound direction we could take. we could focus our attention on water reduction, reuse and conservation. This is not just a vision. In a book called We All Live Downstream, the way to achieve such a goal is demonstrated. There are about eight waterless human waste composters listed, as well as ways to reuse water and to conserve. In a federally funded study conducted in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a house by house poll revealed that 2~~ of the city's water/sewer customers were interested in making the transition to appropriate or.-site waste systems., This doesn't indicate that such technology or acceptance is a quantum leap away, but that the public could be ready for new directions. A pilot project for conversion to on- si" waste composters was developed, but not yet realized. We could set up a similar pilot project and bring it into being. creati: a number of water efficient houses, testing different or.-site waste camposti: systems, grevwater reuse and water saving devices, with the ex~ectat~an that this information could be used to retrofit every existing building and installed in new buildings in the Eno watershed, going beyond political boundaries and being a truly bioregional approach. This way wouldn't be an easy or a quick way, but it could be 2. means ow not only restoring the Eno, but restaging a sense of commur:ity whic^ is now sadly lacking. If such a course were followed, and in ten or twenty years, the ~o watershed was the first ir, America to unhook its sewer lines and close down its sewer treatment plants, this would be ar. accomrlishment. Compare this with being simply one mare area which built a reservoir, and then whose livability was destroyed by endless development which enriched a few but imx~overished the rest of us. There is no comparison. 1~iy wish is that you would I realize this is useless, but development DCCUrS and trarric the climate even hotter and dr built Dyer, rivers and streams ..- ..., 1_ ~, ~ ~. _ - - ~ - - , _- _ ._.- 1 ,.. ~ 1 ~ remove the reservoir from the bond issue. if a reservoir is built and large scale becomes even heavier, the air more unbreatha~: yer, woods destroyed, the earth paved and further de~le ted, along v~'wth our tax