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Chapter 6: Natural and Cultural Systems Element <br /> Name of Study Year Findings/Results <br /> impervious limits) in 1992. <br /> State Watershed 1991 Examined proposed state minimum <br /> Protection Rules and rules. After rules changed, County opted <br /> Implications for to keep original more protective <br /> Oran a County standards in place. <br /> Cane Creek 1999 Stringent land use controls needed to <br /> Watershed Technical protect against future <br /> Study degradation/sedimentation. Led to land <br /> use controls (lot size, impervious limits), <br /> with some open s ace provisions. <br /> Jordan Lake 2004 Technical study for large regional lake <br /> Watershed Technical and focused on areas of concern - including <br /> Study and Proposed ongoing Upper New Hope Arm (southeast <br /> Nutrient Management Orange). Proposed reductions in <br /> Rules nitrogen (25%) and phosphorus (5%) <br /> currently being considered. <br /> The ultimate result of the many technical studies and state watershed <br /> rules is that much of the County's land area is comprised of small to <br /> medium sized water supply watersheds, which by their nature require <br /> special protection measures. The limited potential for future water <br /> supply sources makes increased protection of the existing sources and <br /> better characterization of the fractured crystalline rocks all the more <br /> critical. All of the County's major water supply watersheds have been <br /> the subject of technical studies, except for the Upper Eno watershed. <br /> This watershed has been the subject of conservation studies, but a full <br /> technical study has not been undertaken. <br /> The County's overall approach to watershed protection, as noted in the <br /> introduction, is to pursue a non-structural approach. This involves <br /> protection of water quality at the source, by using land use measures <br /> to control impervious surface, the number of housing units (and hence <br /> wastewater systems), the infiltration of stormwater on-site, and the <br /> protection of stream buffers to further filter water as it moves from the <br /> watershed to the stream corridors. <br /> Minimum lot size limits help achieve the goal of limiting human <br /> impacts and is a broad tool that is widely in use. Accompanying limits <br /> on the amount of land that can be impervious to water infiltration helps <br /> reduce sheet flow runoff into streams and encourage infiltration into <br /> the soil. <br /> Orange County's stream buffer provisions are a key component of the <br /> County's watershed protection approach. Implemented through the <br /> Zoning Unified Development Ordinance, the overall size and width of <br /> protected stream buffers are based on a calculation that takes into <br /> consideration the slope of the land and the existing vegetative cover <br /> along an identified water body. At a minimum, stream buffers are <br /> required to be fifty (50) feet in width along both sides of a stream, with <br /> an additional fifteen (1 5) or thirty (30) feet of protected buffer required <br /> Oravu#e Cou my C&wtprehevuuve.,Pla v Page 6-80 <br />