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r:\ <br /> 2.3 WATER RESOURCES changes in bold <br /> WATER SUPPLY' <br /> Orange County is one of the fastest growing counties in North <br /> Carolina. Data from the 1980 Census showed that the County <br /> had grown by 36% during the previous decade. From 1980 to <br /> 1988, County generated population figures estimated the <br /> County had grown by another 33%. The location of Orange <br /> County within the Research Triangle area in the Piedmont <br /> Crescent indicates the growth rates experienced over the past <br /> two decades are likely to continue. While this growth will <br /> present many opportunities for the people of Orange County, <br /> planning must insure that the expected growth is orderly and <br /> that public facilities are services, like adequate supplies <br /> of water, can be made available as they are needed. <br /> An adequate supply of drinking water is one resource often <br /> taken for granted. A sufficient supply of good quality water, <br /> though, is not automatically available. With the exception of <br /> the Haw River, which forms the southwestern boundary of the <br /> County, no major waterways flow through Orange County. <br /> Orange County is an upstream, or headwaters, county. Ridge <br /> lines separating three major drainage basins, the Cape Fear, <br /> the Upper Neuse, and the Roanoke, lie within the County. As a <br /> result existing and potential public water supply watersheds <br /> are relatively small. <br /> Ground water is the only supply available to persons in the <br /> vast majority of rural areas in the County. Approximately 26% <br /> of the County's population, some 27,000 residents, are <br /> currently supplied with water from ground water resources. <br /> These people generally reside outside the towns of Carrboro, <br /> Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, and Mebane, their extraterritorial <br /> jurisdictions, and the community of Efland. These areas are <br /> served by surface water impoundments. In rural areas, home <br /> and farm needs can adequately be met by flows as little as <br /> two or three gallons per minute. Data from wells drilled in <br /> Orange County show that nine out of ten wells drilled yield <br /> 1The following sources are used for information on Orange <br /> County water resources and can be consulted for more <br /> detailed information: "Report of the Orange County Water <br /> Resources Task Force, " May 1981. "Report of the Orange <br /> County Long Range Water Management Strategy Committee," <br /> November 1987. orange County Water Supply Study, Phase I, <br /> Hazen & Sawyer, November 1987. <br /> 2.3 text 1 <br />