Agenda - 09-19-2007-6f1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Section V. Draft County Profile (Data) Element Orange County Comprehensive Plan B5. Environment M n. iTtC'1 iii Good air and water quality are essential to promoting a high quality of life and a sustainable community. Because pollutants do not respect arbitrary county lines, Orange County's environmental quality is integrally linked to the larger Triangle area. Understanding the sources and impacts of pollution and protecting and maintaining a high quality environment will be key to future sustainable development. This section contains a brief overview of environmental conditions within Orange County. More detailed analysis is located within the Natural and Cultural Systems Element of the Comprehensive Plan. Much of the information contained within this section has been abstracted from the "State of the Environment, 2004" compiled by the Orange County Commission for the Environment. In Orange County, the point sources of air emissions are relatively small compared to other emission sources (i.e. non -point sources). The variation in year -to -year Ground Level Ozone exceedances is largely related to hot weather extremes, as seen in the fluctuations in the number of exceedances from 1995 to 2003. Orange County was declared a `non- attainment' area in 2004 by the Environmental Protection Agency for violating federal ozone standards. IZ Protecting finite water resources is vital to insuring a thriving and sustainable community. Because Orange County contains the upper reaches of three of the State's major river basins — the Neuse, the Cape Fear and Roanoke, many rivers begin here but few flow into the County. Z Overall, about one -third of Orange County residents rely on ground water resources; however, rural areas outside of public water service areas rely almost exclusively on groundwater. Orange Water and Sewer Authority is the largest public authority that provides 9/6/2007 B5.1 water and wastewater treatment services to Orange County's residents. In 2005, OWASA provided services to 19,400 accounts or 75,000 people. OWASA's average day wastewater flows increased 250 percent from 2.2 million gallons per day (mgd) to 7.7 mgd from 1970 — 2004. OWASA Sustainability Report: October 2005. During this same time period (1970- 2004), major reductions in pollutant loadings took place. i Per person water demand decreased from 121 gallons per day in FY 2004 to 108 gallons per day in FY 2005, representing a 10 %decrease. OWASA recycled 92% of wastewater biosolids in FY 2005. The Orange County landfill managed 100,097 tons of waste in FY 05/06. The percent of recycled materials has increased by 11 % since FY 04/05. Urban curbside recycling accounts for 26% of all recycling in Orange County, an increase of 13% from fiscal year 04/05.