Agenda - 12-16-1997 - 10d - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ou"le eoaN4 qw&*10 Viii 5 Daniel S. Reimer, MPH, Diredor ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIVISION �' •. Bstly 8WI.n4 Ron Hadr RS P O.So 8181 -3MC Revere Rood `• Jim Brown,RS Ran Haidway,RS HlMeborouph,NC 27278 Perry Bums,RS Jan Jackson,RS FAX 0 91941444008 Alan Cktpp,RS,LSS Tan KwWer,RS Grey Grimm.RS Barbara Pe tsrsen, ►'�►► lae��'.• David Hecht,RS Wanly Thlppw%RS HM*orv* ampd H01 Mabsstr vurjr 919-7324131 x2360 919-904501 x2360 910.227-2031 x2360 919-bit-7333 x2360 MEMORANDUM DATE: November 3, 1997 TO: Geof Gledhill FROM: Ron Holdway CC: Tom Konsler Paul Thames David Stancil RE: "Public Health Emergency" As promised and as a follow-up to the Water and Sewer Boundary Task Force meeting and the discussions about the Brookfield area problem, I am writing to give you my thoughts on the"Public Health Emergency" debate as it relates to the extensor of public sewer into interest areas and also into designated watersheds. The existing definitions in the WSBTF draft agreement and Orange County's Water dt Sewer Policy both speak to situations involving existing land uses with[wing] Kid irreparable water or wastewater systems. The WSBTF docxmaent even contemplates condemnation of the properties because of irreparable failures. I'll keep my comments to the sewage end of the stick in this memo,but comparable arguments for and against water line extensions could be made. It has been my experience that many times water problems are more easily solved or at least are more sporadic. The declaration of a"public health emergency"is the current condition used to indicate the necessity of extending public sewer into unsewered areas of the county. Recently,the phrase"imminent hazard"has been proposed for use in that context since it has a statutory definition and was also recommended by NTilton Heath of the Institute of Government. To my knowledge,there is no legal definition of"public health emergency"in the statutes or rules other than the general text in the County's Water and Sewer Policy and Draft Boundary Task Force Agreement referring to irreparable systems. Both phrases appear to indicate that immediate action is required to avert immediate negative consequences. The responsibility of declaring a"public health emageW in unclear in the WSBTF draft but is clearly defined for an"imminent hazard"in the statutes.