1991-10-10_BOCC_PUBLIC HR_00001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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of water quality; development densities, and water and sewer into this watershed. (C) 037 should occur only at low lines should not be extended 90,TIQUMLE. The Orange County Land Use Element states that ground water is the only supply available to persons in the vast majority of rural areas in the County. While ground water reserves are estimated to be quite large, the crystalline fractured rock of the Piedmont make ground water use impractical for most uses other than small scale residential development. This situation forces most urban areas in the Piedmont to rely almost exclusively on surface water reservoirs for public water supply. The Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA), a co- petitioner for this amendment, was created in June 1975 by Orange County and the towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill to purchase, operate, and develop the water and sewer system then owned by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The OWASA system draws from two primary impoundments. University Lake, adjacent to Carrboro on the west, was constructed in 1932. Its current 20 -year safe yield has decreased to 3.0 million gallons per day (mgd) due to accumulations of sediment. A 20 -year safe yield means that for one year in twenty there will be some period for which a water source cannot supply a given amount of water. It is a widely accepted basis for evaluating and designing municipal water supply reservoirs. The Cane Creek Reservoir in Bingham Township was completed in 1989, and can provide the system with an additional 10 mgd. University Lake is augmented by raw water storage in the former American Store Quarry on NC 54 (site of this request). The 20 year safe yield of the quarry is estimated at 0.5 mgd, giving OWASA a total current 20 --year safe yield of 13.5 mgd (with Cane Creek Reservoir). Because Orange County is at or near the headwaters of major drainage basins, the sub - basins from which county suppliers can draw are small. This results in potential reservoir yields that are, as best, modest. It is clear that Orange County does not have the sites with a potential to supply large amounts of water over long periods of time. Even with the Cane Creek Reservoir, the County as a whole could face a demand deficit before the year 2010. This proposal if approved, will provide approximately 3 billion gallons of storage capacity - more than five times the capacity of University Lake. In 1979, the Orange County Board of Commissioners appointed the Water Resources Task Force, investing in it five charges: 13