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Commissioner Pelissier asked if monitoring done by other organizations is recognized <br /> by the state. <br /> Tom Davis said the results of monitoring done by other organizations will be included in <br /> the modeling that is being done. <br /> Pam Hemminger said both of these will be taken into the monitoring project, and the <br /> data will be recorded as group data from the sites. <br /> Commissioner McKee said he realizes this is a drinking water source that needs to be <br /> clean. He asked if he is correct that the best management practices that were put into place in <br /> the 70's, 80's and 90's will not count. <br /> Pam Hemminger said anything done before 2006 does not count. She said there will be <br /> some credit for a few things that have been done, but there are only 5 or 6 things on the list <br /> right now for credits. <br /> Tom Davis said the other consideration is that the best management practices have <br /> lowered the base line loading for the lake. <br /> Pam Hemminger said it is frustrating because Orange County went out of their way to <br /> put best practices in place. She said most of the land in the watershed in Orange County is <br /> forested land, and staff is hopeful that the re-modeling will help them significantly. <br /> Commissioner McKee said over the past 40 years the agricultural community has put in <br /> thousands of miles of fill borders, waterways, and sediment control structures that should <br /> count for something. He said the farmers want to keep the nutrients on their land. <br /> Commissioner McKee asked if the first water quality test on these sites is considered a <br /> base line. <br /> Tom Davis said no. He said many of these locations will be sampled every month to get <br /> results during different stages of stream flow, and this will be input into a model. <br /> Pam Hemminger said this data will be compared against the 2006 numbers to possibly <br /> come back with more reachable numbers. <br /> Commissioner McKee said this means 2006 is the baseline. <br /> Tom Davis said this is correct, and the best practices previously put in place will lower <br /> that baseline. <br /> Commissioner McKee said his other concern is that the financial impact of this will not <br /> only affect the County; but it will also flow back to farmers and homeowners in the form of <br /> additional rules and monitoring. <br /> Commissioner Gordon expressed her appreciation for the work that has been done. <br /> She asked if there has been any thought about the quality of what is being produced in these <br /> areas. She said forested land should be lowest in putting out nutrients. She questioned <br /> whether the County would fare better if this was measured on some absolute amount of <br /> nutrients coming out. <br /> Pam Hemminger said that is one of the reasons that the state decided to do this as a <br /> group project. She said every jurisdiction wants to know if they have a problem that needs to <br /> be fixed. She is hopeful that Orange County will find out that it is doing pretty well, but the <br /> problem is that the lake is still dirty. She said maybe the Lake was just never intended to be a <br /> water drinking source at the upper end. She said the lake is clean and drinkable at the lower <br /> end where Raleigh pulls the water out. She said most of the land in Orange County is <br /> forested, but there are also failing septic systems along the routes and some agriculture. She <br /> said everything will be measured by what is in the lake, but the state has agreed to look at the <br /> data from the jurisdictions. <br /> Chair Jacobs asked if there are discussions about giving local governments more <br /> authority to intervene. He asked if there has been discussion about recommendations to <br /> change how jurisdictions do business and development in watershed areas. <br />