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utilities are committed to providing safe drinking supplies, quality water, we want to have a sufficient quantity
<br />of water to provide for the customers, the citizens; and we want to do it in a way that is environmentally
<br />sensitive and that is cost effective. As far as our interests, we are trying to be very upfront. We have a
<br />number of interests. As I said, we are not a water provider, but we are a sewer provider in the Efland area,
<br />and we recently decided to go ahead and at least complete a master plan for an Efland sewer system. We
<br />started the Efland sewer in the early 80's in response to some failing septic systems, and we are still
<br />perfecting that plan now and have a million dollars in bond monies that will be applied to expanding the
<br />current system. Even though we are talking about Orange County in general, and you all have different parts
<br />of Orange County, we are really talking mainly about the central part of Orange County today in terms of
<br />whom we have brought together. And you can see that there are a number of issues -anew County middle
<br />school. The County Schaal board would like to put one near where we have an elementary school, but we da
<br />not have sufficient water for fire suppression. Economic development, we have existing businesses and an
<br />850-acre designated economic development district between Efland and Mebane that has no provision of
<br />services contemplated, nor have we identified a source of those services. I would like to welcome the
<br />members of People for Progress, who are sitting in the back several rows. This is a community that kind of
<br />falls in a no-man's land between Mebane and Efland, not really in anybody's service area. They have water
<br />and sewer problems, and we need to figure out a way to coordinate so that we can address those problems
<br />in a way that is satisfactory, that brings them the service that they need. When we talk about water and
<br />sewer boundaries, we have an agreement that was recently put in place between Hillsborough; OWASA,
<br />which represents Chapel Hill and Carrboro, as well as Orange County; and the Orange County government
<br />that delineates the water and sewer boundary for each utility so that we know who is going to provide where
<br />and which areas will not have service provided unless there is a public health emergency. We do not have
<br />those kinds of agreements in central Orange County.
<br />I cannot go through this without mentioning conservative use of limited resources. I walked down
<br />to Seven-Mile Creek, which is near my house, before I came here in fact. It was hard to leave. I brought one
<br />of our other constituents, this mussel. And when we talk about all of this, we know that we have to protect
<br />the environment. We know that, for instance, the Eno River cannot be pumped dry like it used ta. We know
<br />that we have to provide not only for ourselves, but for our descendants. And in order to do that, we think it
<br />would be goad to work together.
<br />We recently co-sponsored with the Chatham County Commissioners a symposium on emergency
<br />preparedness, looking regionally primarily at the threat posed by a possible nuclear accident at Shearon
<br />Harris, but even more generally, looking at emergency preparedness and how we might improve it in case of
<br />any kind of major threat to public health. And it was certainly striking, the lack of coordination, the lack of
<br />leadership from the State, the lack of coordination an a regional level. We have put that up there because
<br />some of the same kinds of thinking may need to be done to link us better. We have linked water lines, but we
<br />do not have linked thinking, we do not have linked planning. These other issues, I do not think I need to read
<br />to you, but they all come into play when we talk about providing water and protecting watersheds.
<br />And finally, another quote from Ambrose Pierce, "Discussion, a method of confirming others in
<br />their errors." We hope to have a good discussion. We do not come here with a sense that we want to tell
<br />you what the outcome should be. We look forward to working with all of you. As you know, within the last
<br />several years Commissioner Halkiotis and I have met with all of the entities that are here to just try and reach
<br />out and say, "We would like to work together. We would like to identify common areas of interest." And we
<br />appreciate the fact that you are here.
<br />He asked everyone up front to introduce themselves and say whom they represent.
<br />B. Roundtable Self Introductions
<br />Bob Atwater, Chatham County Commissioner
<br />Katie Calvin, City of Durham Public Works Director
<br />Moses Carey, Orange County Commissioner
<br />Louis Cheek, Mayor Pro-tem, City of Durham
<br />Don Cox, Orange County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor
<br />Mike Gering, Hillsborough Town Commissioner
<br />Kenny Keel, Town of Hillsborough Engineer and Utilities Director
<br />Ed Kerwin, Executive Director of OWASA
<br />Faye Metcalf, Orange-Alamance Water System
<br />Bernadette Pellisier. Chair of the OWASA Board
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