Agenda - 08-30-2011 - 1b - Laserfiche WebLink

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Regional Nutrient Management Rules 20 August 2011 or the DENR Ecosystem Enhancement Program (EEP) in order to meet required nutrient reductions. Any such credits required in the-Falls Lake basin must be obtained from projects-located in the Upper Falls Lake watershed. Similarly, other local governments located throughout the entire Falls Lake watershed may also need to obtain offsite nutrient reduction credits. Orange County may end up -in a position to- potentially benefit from the trading needs of other local governments. Possible benefits of trading could include the preservation of open space through- purchases and conservation easements, as well as through the completion of stream restoration projects._ The nutrient trading implications for the agricultural. community are difficult to -predict at the current time since both sets of rules require minimum reductions to be -met by the agricultural community before trading of agricultural-creziits-can then occur. There are concerns that trading could result in the loss of productive agricultural lands as a result of expanded stream buffers or open space preservation. VII:. Riparian_Buffer Protection and Mitigation The Jordan Rules require regulations to protect riparian buffers on all surface waters. County staff submitted information to DWQ in 2010 documenting_that existing County regulations exceed these requirements and informing DWQ that enhanced buffer regulations would be included in the recently adopted Orange County UDO. VI11. Fertilizer Management By August 2012, for all parcels greater than 5 acres in size, the Jordan Rules require fertilizer applicators to complete nutrient management training or apply fertilizer according to a nutrient management plan. Staff is workingto identify all parcels in Orange County within t1~e Jordan Lake watershed -that are greater than 5 acres in size. Staff esfiimates there are approximately 1,500 such parcels in the County. More than 10,000 such parcels may be present in the eight counties within the-entire Jordan Lake watershed. No fertilizer management requirements were included in the Falls Rules. IX. Wastewater Significant reductions in nutrient loading from area wastewater treatment plants will be required. There are no requirements associated with these rules for Orange County. OWASA and the Town of Hillsborough are likely to have to invest in new infrastructure to meet the required reductions in nutrient loading. X. Stormwater from State and Federal Facilities There are no requirements associated with this section of either set of nutrient management rules for Orange County to implement.