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r , <br /> at least two gallons per minute. Some wells yield fifty <br /> gallons per minute or more. Thus ground water conditions in <br /> Orange County are generally adequate to meet the needs of <br /> single households and farm uses in rural areas. <br /> While ground water reserves are estimated to be quite large, <br /> the crystalline fractured rock of the Piedmont make ground <br /> water use impractical for most uses other than small scale <br /> residential development. This situation forces most urban <br /> areas in the Piedmont to rely almost exclusively on surface <br /> water reservoirs for public water supply. <br /> The majority of Orange County residents are supplied by water <br /> from two publicly owned water systems and one privately owned <br /> water system. The public systems are the Orange Water and <br /> Sewer Authority (OWASA) , which serves southeastern Orange <br /> County, along with small portions of Durham and Chatham <br /> County, and the municipal system for the Town of <br /> Hillsborough. The private system, the Orange Alamance Water <br /> System (OAWS) , is a is non-profit association serving western <br /> Orange County. <br /> Orange Water and Sewer Authoritv (OWASA), <br /> OWASA was created in June 1975 by Orange County and the Towns <br /> of Carrboro and Chapel Hill to purchase, operate, and develop <br /> the water and sewer system then owned by the University of <br /> North Carolina at Chapel Hill. <br /> The system is authorized by law to operate and maintain water <br /> and sewer system located in southern Orange County, to issue <br /> revenue bonds to pay for such operation and maintenance, and <br /> to set fees for the provision of water and sewer services. <br /> OWASA has no taxing power. It is administered by a board of <br /> nine members appointed by the Carrboro Board of Aldermen (two <br /> members) , Chapel Hill Town Council (five members) , and Orange <br /> County Board of Commissioners (two members) . <br /> The OWASA system draws from two primary impoundments. <br /> Adjacent to Carrboro on the west in University Lake, <br /> constructed in 1932. Its current 20 year safe yield is 3.5 <br /> million gallons per day (mgd) and is expected to decrease to <br /> 3.0 mgd by the year 2025 due to accumulations of sediment. A <br /> 20 year safe yield means that for one year in twenty there <br /> will be some period for which a water source cannot supply a <br /> given amount of water. It is a widely accepted basis for <br /> evaluating and designing municipal water supply reservoirs. <br /> 2.3 text 2 <br />