Orange County NC Website
022 <br /> use. It should also be noted that the proposal is not the <br /> "intrusion" of a new quarry into the area, but represents the <br /> connection of a former quarry (now reservoir) to an existing <br /> quarry. <br /> The applicant states that this use serves the rural community <br /> in providing fill for septic tank systems and that the <br /> expansion of this operation will be contained within the <br /> current site. <br /> UNIVERSITY LAKE WATERSHED <br /> 1) University Lake water supply watershed should be developed in <br /> a manner which will protect the quality of the water supply. <br /> Very low density residential, low intensity commercial, and <br /> agricultural land uses are appropriate in this area. (OC) <br /> 2) The University Lake Watershed should be protected for reasons <br /> of water quality; development should occur only at low <br /> densities, and water and sewer lines should not be extended <br /> into this watershed. (C) <br /> OUESTIONABLE. The Orange County Land Use Element states that <br /> ground water is the only supply available to persons in the <br /> vast majority of rural areas in the County. While ground <br /> water reserves are estimated to be quite large, the <br /> crystalline fractured rock of the Piedmont make ground water <br /> use impractical for most uses other than small scale <br /> residential development. This situation forces most urban <br /> areas in the Piedmont to rely almost exclusively on surface <br /> water reservoirs for public water supply. <br /> The Orange water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) , a co-petitioner <br /> for this amendment, was created in June 1975 by Orange County <br /> and the towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill to purchase, <br /> operate, and develop the water and sewer system then owned by <br /> the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. <br /> The OWASA. system draws from two primary impoundments. <br /> University Lake, adjacent to Carrboro on the west, was <br /> constructed in 1932. Its current 20-year safe yield has <br /> decreased to 3.0 million gallons per day (mgd) due to <br /> accumulations of sediment. A 20-year safe yield means that <br /> for one year in twenty there will be some period for which a <br /> water source cannot supply a given amount of water. It is a <br /> widely accepted basis for evaluating and designing municipal <br /> water supply reservoirs. The Cane Creek Reservoir in Bingham <br /> Township was completed in 1989, and can provide the system <br /> with an additional 10 mgd. University Lake is augmented by <br /> 14 <br />