Agenda - 08-01-1989 - Laserfiche WebLink

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31 MORGAN indicated that the construction was simpler in clay. The operation was quite different. In this proposed project, loading would be at 1/10 of a gallon per square foot per day. Because of the high water table at the beach, treatment of the water is done in the upper zones of the soil on the beach. It is also done in the upper zones of the soil for the clay. Clay in this particular site is more than 36" below the ground. The clay is no more difficult to contend with at 36" below the surface than is the water table on the beach. The problem is in loading the upper horizon in a safe loading manner and getting the treatment in the top 36". The minute clay is encountered, it will run along the top of the clay rather than seep down into it. Clay will not absorb any great amount of water. BEST asked if Morgan had done any projects of this size in the type of soil present in this area and he indicated that he had not personally handled a system in Orange County of this size. CANTRELL asked if bells and buzzers actually went off if there was a problem with the system and Morgan answered that they do actually have buzzers that go off in the house which indicate that there is a problem in the pump house. The system is designed with a minimum of 12 hours of reserve capacity so that when the alarm buzzer goes off, there is still residual time within the system before there are any major problems. YUHASZ asked for an explanation as to the essential difference between Mr. Morgan's system and an individual low pressure system. MORGAN indicated that essentially there is no difference between how a single family low pressure pipe system and how this system will operate, other than the fact that it is a larger concentration of units. Spreading the wastewater disposal over the entire subdivision might be a better idea in some peoples ideas. In this particular case, that cannot be.done because the soils in the other areas will not tolerate it. In answer to a question from Steve Yuhasz about the typical loading rate Morgan indicated that the general rate in suitable soils is about .15 gallons per square foot per day. They go up to as high as .4. ALLEN SPALT, a member of the Protect Our Water group, reminded the Commissioners that several years ago there was an intensive controversy about Carrboro's approval of development in the University Lake Watershed. Everyone agreed that the Amberly project, as then proposed, posed an unacceptable risk to the public water supply. McLennan's Farms was proposed about the same time. He stated that Protect Our Water members feel it is no better. They believe that a public water supply is not an appropriate place for research on alternative waste systems, nor is it an appropriate place to experiment in how to manage those systems. He mentioned that during the last election in Carrboro all of the elected officials who favored Amberly were defeated and replaced by candidates who favored greater protection of the watershed. Carrboro has adopted a moratorium on the development of alternative systems or development using more than 4 individual septic tanks pending consideration of the OWASA study. Orange County adopted the Rural Buffer designation with one unit per 2 acre minimum lot size. The North Carolina Division of Environmental Management classified University Lake as a WS-I watershed. This is its highest rating. OWASA's study by Camp, Dresser and McKee concluded that protection of the already threatened University Lake required, among other things, minimum standards of development of no greater than one unit per five acres or density of one unit per two acres with structural "best management" practices. It also required no use of alternative wastewater systems in the watershed. Paul Wilms, Director of Environmental Management, turned down Amberly's permit, stating that the development