Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
• <br /> through the purchase of treated water from Hillsborough (the -sale of water <br /> to OWASA for 1984 and 1985 is shown in Figure 1) . This brings the total <br /> consumption level from the upper Eno basin to over 3.0 mgd during periods of <br /> low rainfall , clearly exceeding the current safe yield of our combined <br /> reservoirs of about 2.6 mgd. <br /> The safe yield of Hillsborough's reservoir, Lake Ben Johnston, Js about <br /> .44 million gallons per day. At present rates, we are consuming' about three <br /> times the safe yield of our reservoir. The balance of the water to meet <br /> Hillsborough ' s needs comes from Lake Orange, which we share as a water <br /> source with other residents of the County. As mentioned above, during dry <br /> periods water drawn from Lake Orange is treated by Hillsborough and piped to <br /> the 0WASA system for use in southern Orange County. It should be noted that <br /> during the drought of 1983, Hillsborough supplied roughly 20% of the water <br /> consumed by Chapel Hill , Carrboro, and other areas served by OWASA. ' <br /> Consequently, we acknowledge that a water problem will arise during <br /> times of drought and that the problem is one that we must jointly address <br /> with the County and other water users in Orange County. Of course, we do <br /> not have a water shortage today and will not with adequate rainfall . <br /> In our opinion , however, the solution to our water concerns is not to <br /> disapprove Scotswood or other pending projects for lack of water supply <br /> unless similar constraints on growth are imposed on development in the NASA <br /> and Orange-Alamance service areas. In particular, so long as CWASA relies <br /> on water from northern Orange County, it would be extremely unfair to turn <br /> away development in Hillsborough while allowing development to proceed <br /> unabated in the southern end of the County. If Scotswood is denied for <br />