Orange County NC Website
Joint Use of Jordan Lake Water Supply <br />September 7, 2007 <br />Page 2 <br />from Chatham County, Durham, and the NC Division of Water Resources. UNC <br />Institute of Government and Triangle J Council of Governments staff helped. <br />facilitate those discussions, which included the possibility of establishing a Jordan <br />Lake water authority as the lead agency for developing additional water supply <br />facilities. Neither the discussions nor the proposal to create a special authority were <br />pursued. <br />In 2001 the Towns of Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, Orange County, and <br />OWASA entered into a Water and Sewer Management, Planning and Boundary <br />Agreement, which includes a requirement that any non-emergency water transfers <br />from OWASA to locations outside of its designated "long-term interest area" (e.g., <br />to Chatham County) must first be approved by the elected boards of Carrboro, <br />Chapel Hill, and Orange County. <br />4WASA-Owned Property at Jordan Lake and Expected Use of Storage Allocation <br />OWASA awns approximately 125 acres of land adjacent to US Army Corps of Engineers <br />property south of Highway G4 on the western side of Jordan Lake in the Pea Ridge - <br />Seaforth Roads vicinity (please see attached map). The property is close to the preferred <br />site of a western water supply intake recommended in a 1991 OWASA-commissioned <br />engineering report. The Corps of Engineers has indicated that this would. likely be the <br />only other intake site allowed at Jordan Lake in addition to the Town of Ca1y's existing <br />site north of Highway 64 (also shown on map). Although OWASA owns property near <br />the lake, neither we nor any other entity own or have a claim to the intake location within <br />the lake itself. <br />OWASA pays an annual fee to reserve a Level II allocation for 5 percent of Jordan <br />Lake's water supply storage capacity. This is expected to yield an average of 5 million <br />gallons of water per day. Because we regard our allocation as insurance against <br />unforeseen problems with our existing supply sources, it is unlikely that OWASA would <br />commit to snaking its allocation available to another utility on anon-interruptible basis. <br />Jordan Lake represents a secondary supply option that could supplement oiu- long-term <br />needs if current plans for water conservation and reuse do not provide the expected <br />savings and future demand reductions. It is unlikely that OWASA will develop any <br />Jordan Lake facilities on our own, due to the high capital costs (more than $40 million for <br />a water intake, pumping, and transmission pipeline) and the relatively short duration (~15 <br />years) for which we currently anticipate a potential need for additional water. Our use of <br />Jordan Lake will likely be snore feasible by collaborating with other entities, such as <br />Chatham County, Durham, and/or Cary, in a joint venture or partnership of some kind. <br />A number of treated water interconnections (pipelines) currently exist among the water <br />utilities in our vicinity. In most cases, treated water can be moved in either direction <br />between these systems, although the actual transfer capacity depends on pipe and pump <br />