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S <br /> j 1 <br /> 1 <br /> ORANGECOUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: December 16, 1997 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item # /U_J <br /> SUBJECT: Creation of on-site water/wastewater treatment failure classification/terminology policy <br /> DEPARTMENT: County Manager PUBLIC HEARING: Yes z No <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): BUDGET AMENDMENT: Yes z No <br /> Environmental Health Director Memo INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> County Engineer Ext. 2303 <br /> Environmental Health Director Ext. 2360 <br /> TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br /> Hillsborough - 732-8181 <br /> Durham - 688-7331 <br /> Mebane - 227-2031 <br /> Chapel Hill - 967-9251/968-4501 <br /> PURPOSE: To provide, for the BOCC's review and approval, a proposal for a process and designation <br /> - short of the statutory"Imminent Hazard" definition and process-that can be used to <br /> categorize a public health concern that results from the failure of existing on-site water or <br /> wastewater treatment systems serving existing homes, buildings or communities. <br /> BACKGROUND: In April of 1989, the BOCC approved the County's Water and Sewer Policy, which <br /> was subsequently amended in September of 1991. Within the Water and Sewer <br /> Policy's statement of purpose, one facet of the County's role in the provision of <br /> water and sewer services was identified as being for the general purpose of <br /> correcting a"public health emergency". The"public health emergency" terminology <br /> in the County's Water and Sewer Policy represented a conscious effort to avoid the <br /> stringent public health criteria embodied in the statutory concept and definition of <br /> the term"imminent hazard". "Imminent hazard" was and is defined by Section 130A- <br /> 2(3) of the NC General Statues to be"a situation which is likely to cause an <br /> immediate threat to human life, an immediate threat of serious physical injury, an <br /> immediate threat of serious adverse health effects, or a serious risk of irreparable <br /> damage to the environment if no immediate action is taken". The Water and Sewer <br /> Policy recognized that there clearly can be public health situations that fall well short <br /> of the severe and perhaps catastrophic circumstances envisioned in the"imminent <br /> hazard" definition but that nonetheless call for some sort of governmental <br /> intervention to effect a corrective action. Within the Water and Sewer Policy, the <br /> concept of"public health emergency" was somewhat loosely defined as a situation <br />