Orange County NC Website
M <br />totalized stream flow. This stream flow information is <br />essential to ensure compliance with the minimum instream flow <br />requirements. The computer was installed in the County <br />Engineer's office in October, 1989, but the monitoring <br />software, which had to be created specifically for the <br />monitoring program, was not fully developed and installed <br />until March, 1990. <br />The second component of the proposed Eno River monitoring <br />system consists of small dams, called weirs, constructed just <br />below the dam of each of the three Eno reservoirs. The <br />purpose of the weirs, which are crude yet accurate flow <br />measuring devices, is to enable each of the reservoir <br />operators to instantly determine the amount of flow that he <br />is releasing from his reservoir. Knowledge of the exact <br />quantity of flow being released is a critical factor in the <br />overall low flow operation of the river, in that it allows <br />operators to release just enough water to satisfy minimum <br />instream flow requirements while retaining as much water as <br />possible in reserve storage in the reservoirs. <br />The weirs were originally scheduled to be constructed in the <br />summer of 1989. it was anticipated that the summer dry <br />season would cause very low natural instream flow in the <br />river, allowing the necessary excavation and temporary stream <br />diversions which would be required to construct the weirs. <br />The dry period never occurred in 1989, and construction of <br />the weirs was rescheduled for the summer of 1990. The <br />anticipated dry period did occur in 1990, allowing the start <br />of weir construction in early July. By the end of August, <br />1990, the two most critical weirs, those at Lakes Ben Johnson <br />and Orange, had been substantially completed and were being <br />used to control water releases from those reservoirs. <br />Construction of the least critical weir at Corporation Lake <br />was not begun in 1990 because the County staff that had been <br />involved in the weir construction had to return to their <br />normal jobs to catch up on their normal summer workload. <br />Construction of the Corporation Lake weir and completion of <br />the Ben Johnson and Lake Orange weirs are scheduled for the <br />summer of 1991. <br />The total budget for this project was set at $38,400, a cost <br />figure that was developed with the assumption that all <br />construction would be performed by independent contractors. <br />No contractors could be located who were both willing to <br />undertake the weir construction and had experience in the <br />type of construction being undertaken. Consequently, all <br />construction to date has been accomplished by County Public <br />Works Department staff, the County Engineer, an independent <br />grading and excavation contractor, and an independent crane <br />operation contractor. At the present time, a total of <br />$19,700 has been expended from the total budget. Of the <br />funds expended, approximately $2900 are direct labor costs <br />for County staff, excluding any labor cost for the County <br />