Orange County NC Website
~ 3 9 <br />A RESOLUTION REQUESTING CLARIFICATION OF THE 2001 WATER AND <br />SEWER MANAGEMENT, PLANNING AND BOUNDARY AGREEMENT <br />AMONG CARRBORO, CHAPEL HILL, HILLSBOROUGH, ORANGE COUNTY, <br />AND OWASA (2011-02-28/R-5) <br />WHEREAS, Jordan Lake is a future water supply source for Carrboro, Chapel Hill, the <br />University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, and portions of Orange <br />County; and <br />WHEREAS, OWASA, with the support of Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Orange County, <br />applied for and received a Jordan Lake water supply storage allocation from the North <br />Carolina Environmental Management Commission (EMC) in 1988, for which OWASA <br />has since paid more than $200,000; and <br />WHEREAS, Orange County has a million gallon per day allocation from the Jordan Lake <br />water supply which the County intends to draw from in the future; and <br />WHEREAS, Hillsborough intends to request a million gallon per day allocation from the <br />Jordan Lake water supply for future emergency water supply and potential growth; and <br />WHEREAS, Jordan Lake's importance as a future supply source was confirmed in <br />OWASA's 2001 Comprehensive Water and Sewer Master Plan and re-affirmed in its <br />2010 Long-Range Water Supply Plan, which stated that "It is essential that OWASA <br />retain and acquire access to its [Jordan Lake] allocation"; and <br />WHEREAS, OWASA, Hillsborough, and Orange County are playing an active role in the <br />Jordan Lake Partnership, which is facilitating coordinated applications to the EMC by <br />Triangle Area utilities who must justify their need for increasing or retaining their Jordan <br />Lake water supply storage allocations; and <br />WHEREAS, unimpeded access to OWASA's, Hillsborough's, and Orange County's <br />allocations will be an important consideration in obtaining the EMC's approval to retain <br />those allocations; and <br />WHEREAS, the Towns of Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Hillsborough, Orange County, and <br />OWASA adopted a Water and Sewer Management, Planning and Boundary Agreement <br />(the Agreement) in 2001; and <br />WHEREAS, language in the Agreement is unclear about OWASA's, Hillsborough's, <br />and Orange County's ability to access their respective Jordan Lake water supply storage <br />allocations for use by OWASA, Hillsborough, and Orange County customers; and <br />WHEREAS, this lack of clarity may jeopardize OWASA's, Hillsborough's, and Orange <br />County's ability to obtain the EMC's approval to retain their allocations; and <br />