Orange County NC Website
where their water treatment plant is. So that may be pulling surface water into it. Perhaps Dr. Moreau could <br />address that later in his comments. <br />4. DINNER <br />At this time, there was a break for dinner. <br />5. REGIONAL WATER RESOURCE OVERVIEW -Pat Davis -_ Triangle J Council of Governments <br />Pat Davis said that Region J is a seven county region that includes Orange, Durham, Chatham, Lee, <br />Johnston, Wake, and Moore Counties. According to the 2000 census, the population was just under 1.2 <br />million people. Orange County's population was just under 120,000 or 10% of the region's population. <br />Based on a number of studies that have been done on the local, regional, and State level, the growth and <br />development decisions that have been made have had some impact on our water resource conditions, both <br />quality and quantity. And, of course we've had low flow conditions. This map shows in red and pink, before <br />Moore County joined TJCOG, water bodies that the State considers impaired. In other words, not meeting <br />any uses. So within the region there are about 90 stream miles that cannot support their designated uses. <br />And 202 miles are rated as only partially supporting their intended uses, meaning there are some signs of <br />decline and we need to look at how we might restore these waters to support the designated uses. The <br />result of our independent and collective decisions in the region have led to those ratings, and as a result <br />we've seen the State and others take action with respect to determining that steps are needed to protector <br />restore water quality. An example is the Neuse River Basin and Water Quality Rules that were put in place <br />by the State Environmental Management Commission back in 1996. That was done in response to the fish <br />kills and declining water quality conditions. So the State imposed land use restrictions, point source <br />discharge controls, education outreach requirements on local jurisdictions and the agricultural community in <br />order to try and restore conditions. And in the Cape Fear Basin an emerging issue is Jordan Lake nutrient <br />loading. The southern half of Orange County is in the Jordan Lake watershed. The Jordan Lake watershed <br />has shown signs of elevated nutrients. And there is concern by the State and some others that if those <br />conditions continue to worsen then recreational use, aquatic habitat, and drinking water supply uses will be <br />impaired. Other issues include inter basin transfers. We see it on a small scale within Orange County. <br />Durham has had an inter basin transfer from the Neuse Basin and from the Cape Fear basin. And you've <br />probably heard recently about the issue of inter basin transfers for the Cary/Apex folks as they want to get <br />water out of Jordan. And certainly in recent events, the whole issue of emergency response and <br />preparedness is certainly at the forefront. <br />Region J's population is projected to grow by about 3$% by year 2020. Orange County's population <br />is projected to grow by a similar percent to around 167,000 by the year 2020. So as that additional growth <br />and development occurs, there could be corresponding increases in threats to our water resources, quality or <br />quantity. How do those declining conditions affect you at the local government level? Well, first of all, your <br />local land use plans or planning strategies all have goals and objectives relating to resource protection, <br />sustainable wide use of our water resources, protection in the natural environment, etc. If we see impairment <br />within the region, that means we're not accomplishing those goals and objectives with respect to water <br />resources. We also may base State mandated regulatory actions such as total maximum daily load and <br />what's gone on in the Neuse Basin. <br />All of this certainly is going to affect the cost of doing business, whether it be utility service provision, <br />point source wastewater treatment methods, the cost incurred with reviewing and approving new <br />development activities, and increased costs of resource maintenance and upkeep of maintaining best <br />management practices that you are required to do as a result of the restoration and protection measures. We <br />do an analysis, a survey of water and sewer utility rates and fees within the region and we get 100% <br />response rate. We're compiling these results. What this graph shows, it's a benchmark on showing the <br />monthly combined water and sewer charges for a typical single-family residential customer using 6,000 <br />gallons per month of water. Rates and fees are under increasing pressures for a number of reasons. So we <br />need to think, "How do we minimize the cost of business to our respective customers and residents within our <br />jurisdictions or utility service areas?" <br />I'll start to switch a little bit to same supply issues on a regional scale. One question that folks might <br />have is does the region have enough water to meet projected demands and for how long. In 1997, the <br />region's water supply systems that our local government awned had an average daily demand of 116 million <br />gallons per day. The manmade water supply reservoirs within our region had a combined safe yield of 167 <br />million gallons per day. Now, keep in mind that in addition to the manmade reservoirs, our region uses a <br />