Orange County NC Website
flow, site with adequate storage) are well known, it is unlikely that <br /> TA' any major sites have been overlocked by the several reservoir site <br /> studies which have been done in the region. <br /> Twenty-eight potential reservoir sites have been identified by gather- <br /> ing information from these previous studies. It should be noted that <br /> only a few of these sites have ever seriously been considered, for water <br /> supply use. Table2-.E2 lists potential sites identified in the County as <br /> well as existing impoundments by major drainage basin. Information on <br /> location, drainage area and storage volume have been given where <br /> available. Twenty-year safe yield data have been taken from other <br /> sources or calculated for this report . ee Existing and. Potential <br /> Reservoir Sites and: Watersheds). <br /> In looking at the potential supply available from any of these sites, <br /> it does become clear that Orange County does not have any sites that <br /> , have the potential for supplying large amounts of water. At some <br /> point in the future the County and individual water suppliers will <br /> need to think in regional terms for developing new supply sources. <br /> Surrounding counties do have sites that are large in comparison to <br /> those available within Orange County. The largest of these is <br /> Jordan Lake, located in northern Jhatham County. This reservoir will <br /> be filled sometime in the fall, of 1981 and has 100 mgd of water avail- <br /> able as drinking water. <br /> The city of Durham is currently planning for the construction of the <br /> Orange Factory Reservoir on the Little River in northern Durham <br /> County._ The_project is scheduled to be completed by 1983 and will <br /> add an additional 25 mgd of water supply to the Durham system. <br /> After this reservoir is filled, Durham will have an excess of water <br /> beyond the year 2000. The water from the Durham system is from up- <br /> land watersheds and is of high quality. <br /> In Alamance County, both Graham-Mebane and the city of Burlington have <br /> identified large reservoir sites which they are planning to develop <br /> in the future. The Graham-Mebane system has in the planning stages <br /> a large new reservoir to be bulJt on Back Creek. This reservoir will <br /> be constructed when it is needed and have an estimated safe yield of <br /> 17.4 mgd. A large part of the watershed for this reservoir is in <br /> northwestern Orange County. The city of Burlington is in the land <br /> acquisition stage for the construction of a new reservoir on Greater <br /> Alamance Creek one mile west of the Town of Alamance. This reservoir <br /> will be built in two stages with a final capacity of 34 mgd. <br /> The public water supply systems in Orange County are interconnected <br /> with each other and with the municipal systems of Graham-Mebane, Bur- <br /> lington and the city of Durham. While these interconnections have <br /> been constructed to supply water in emergency situations, they prob- <br /> ably are the forerunners of a more regional approach to water supply. <br /> Good reservoir sites are not distributed equally among counties in <br /> the Piedmont, and counties such as Orange will need to look beyond <br /> their borders for water in the future. <br /> 21 <br />