Agenda - 04-19-1993 - Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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INTERIM REPORT OF THE WATER RESOURCES COMMITTEE BACKGROUND To gain public participation in and support for the development of a water resources protection long range planning program, the commissioners formed a Water Resources Committee in the spring of 1992. The committee was to meet for a period of 12-18 months to determine the sources of information available to assess ground-water quality and quantity and to develop recommendations for a water resource investigation and planning process which would implement the other three objectives associated with the commissioners'Water Resource Quantity and Quality Goal. As part of its activities, the committee was to present a status report to the commissioners in time for their annual goal-setting retreat. This interim report is therefore presented for consideration. In six months of deliberation on the subject of water resources, the Water Resources Committee has reviewed a great deal of information regarding: a) Investigative processes available for use in Orange County that are currently in use elsewhere to study water resources; b) Existing programs, regulations, and policies addressing water resource issues; c) The spectrum of human activities that have the potential to affect, in varying degrees, the reliability of the water resource; d) The nature, extent and utility of both currently available and potentially obtainable information pertaining to the availability and quality of the water resource; e) The nature and reliability of available and obtainable information pertaining to known and potential threats to the water resources; and f) The costs associated with obtaining data and developing programs necessary to insure the protection of the water resource. GOAL STATEMENT Currently, nearly forty percent of Orange County residents rely on ground water as a source of drinking water. This resource is finite and is susceptible to over use, contamination, and reduction in recharge to aquifers (through impervious surface coverage of recharge areas). Better understanding of this resource is needed to effectively guide Orange County's efforts to manage, utilize and protect its ground-water resource. Orange County will seek to improve its understanding of this resource by a process of identification and evaluation. This process will build on previous surface water efforts undertaken by the County, with the ultimate goal being to develop an integrated ground- and surface- water management plan which complements the County's long-range planning process.