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B. THE REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE <br />Orange County, due to its geography, is greatly involved in any <br />matters dealing with water supply watersheds. The County lies at <br />the headwaters of three major river basins and no less than 12 sub - <br />basins which stretch across parts of five adjoining counties. <br />Many of these sub - basins are themselves water supply watersheds, <br />necessitating intergovernmental cooperation on the planning and <br />protection of these water supplies. A total of 12 jurisdictions in <br />these adjoining counties have a varying interest in these <br />watersheds. For some, the interest is simply as an area in the <br />headwaters of the basin. For others, the interest is in their own <br />water supplies. <br />The attached map shows the five counties with which Orange County <br />shares water supply watersheds: CASWELL, PERSON, ALAMANCE, DURHAM <br />AND CHATHAM. The dashed lines on the map indicate water supply <br />watersheds for which protection plans must be adopted. The shaded <br />areas within Orange County represent areas which do not require <br />protection plans. These areas are either: <br />• not water supply watersheds, or <br />• outside of the protected area for regional (WS -IV) watersheds. <br />C. PURPOSE OF THE REPORT <br />The primary purpose of this report is to provide information to the <br />Economic Development Commission, Planning Board and Board of <br />Commissioners which may be used to base recommendations /decisions <br />on water supply watershed classifications as mandated by the Water <br />Supply Watershed Protection Act (1989). A secondary purpose is to <br />serve as a guide to staff in developing /amending watershed <br />standards for Orange County. <br />Changes to the proposed classifications and /or standards may be <br />requested by local governments at the series of regional public <br />hearings in mid- August. The regional hearing for Orange County is <br />set for August 15 in Raleigh. <br />D. REPORT FORMAT <br />Following this introductory section are sections that evaluate each <br />of the 11 water supply watersheds within Orange County's <br />jurisdiction. These sections provide descriptive information about <br />each watershed, summarize the development standards and <br />classifications which may apply therein, and identify issues to be <br />addressed. The final section of this report summarizes these issues <br />from the 1.1 watersheds and proposes recommended actions. <br />4 <br />