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- - - - •- <br /> Watir and Sewer Authority 9 <br /> 400 Jones Ferry Road <br /> OWASA I P.O. Box 366 <br /> Carrboro, NC 27510 <br /> (919) 968-4421 <br /> May 3, 1989 <br /> Mr. Marvin E. Collins, Director <br /> Orange County Planning Department <br /> 306F Revere Road <br /> Hillsborough, NC 27278 <br /> - - <br /> Dear Marvin: <br /> OWASA staff appreciate the opportunity to comment again on the <br /> proposed McLennan's Farm Planned Development. This is our first <br /> chance to review a subdivision proposed in the University Lake <br /> watershed since receiving Camp Dresser & McKee's final watershed <br /> study report. A copy of the March, 1989 Executive Summary is <br /> attached. <br /> 1 <br /> Pat Davis' letters of November 16, 1987 and January 19, 1988 <br /> included detailed comments on the proposed wastewater system. More <br /> recent documents have supported most of those comments: Hazen and <br /> Sawyer's Orange County Alternative -Wastewater Treatment Study <br /> (August, 1988), Camp Dresser & McKee's University Lake Watershed <br /> Study (March, 1989), and Orange County's Water & Sewer Policy (April <br /> 3, 1989). OWASA's staff comments are drawn chiefly from these <br /> documents. We are concerned not only with both the proposed <br /> wastewater system, but the overall site plan for.McLennan's Farm as <br /> well. <br /> • <br /> Community Wastewater System <br /> The CDM report notes that "community systems represent a higher <br /> . (water quality) risk than septic tanks or sewer extensions;" and, <br /> 1 "systems which rely on innovative technology, should be 'proven' in <br /> locations less environmentally sensitive" than water supply <br /> watersheds. COmmunityLPP systems, as proposed for McLennan's Farm, <br /> should be considered as unproven and innovative. Orange County's <br /> Hazen- and Sawyer report examined several case studies of similar <br /> systems, and documents a disturbing range of unsatisfactory <br /> performance. Cluster LPP systems in Orange County should be <br /> "proven" outside of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro water supply <br /> watersheds. <br /> A number of our previous staff comments focused on the need for a <br /> management system to guarantee long-term operation and maintenance <br /> of community wastewater systems - a concern echoed by both the CDM <br /> and Hazen and Sawyer reports. "A management program for inspection, <br /> regulation and monitoring is essential, particularly if community <br /> wastewater disposal systems are permitted within University Lake 1 <br /> watershed" (CDM). The Board of Directors has not addressed CDM's <br /> An Equal Opportunity Employer <br /> 1 • <br />