Orange County NC Website
<br />OWASA meets privately with business community <br /> <br />CHAPEL HILL — Officials from the Orange Water and Sewer Authority and Orange County held a <br />private meeting with the business community on Tuesday to discuss the impacts and experiences of <br />a water crisis that caused businesses in Chapel Hill and Carrboro to close for more than 24 hours. <br />The meeting was organized by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, which barred the <br />media from attending the event. It was held at the Hampton Inn in Carrboro. <br />Chamber President and CEO Aaron Nelson said that around 90 members of the business <br />community came to the event to speak with OWASA Executive Director Ed Kerwin, Orange County <br />Health Department Director Colleen Bridger and Orange County Emergency Services Director Dinah <br />Jeffries. <br />On Thursday night, OWASA will present a preliminary report during a meeting that begins at 6 p.m. <br />in the Chapel Hill Town Council Chambers at Chapel Hill Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. <br />Community members may comment at the meeting or send comments in advance to <br />info@owasa.org or to Andrea Orbich, Clerk to the Board, 400 Jones Ferry Road, Carrboro, N.C. <br />27510. <br />Nelson described Tuesday’s meeting as positive and said it was good for the business community to <br />get detailed information from OWASA about the water problems. He said he was “not sensing that <br />anybody who had heard the information [from OWASA] would think the water ban didn’t need to be <br />issued.” <br />The discussion centered around different ways to improve communication and expectation <br />management between OWASA and the business community, Nelson said, with ideas such as a <br />separate communication channel for area businesses being brought up. <br />Kerwin added that the meeting was “very productive” and that the feedback the utility got was <br />important. “I think anything and everything we can do to improve communications … would be worth <br />doing,” he said. <br />Another issue brought up was whether OWASA could be responsible for covering any of the <br />damages caused by the water-related closures. Kerwin said it was too early to know if that would be <br />a possibility. <br />“Until we complete our investigation, particularly in regard to the fluoride overfeed and water main <br />break, only then would we be able to answer that,” Kerwin said. <br />Robert Epting, an attorney at the Chapel Hill law firm Epting and Hackney and legal counsel for <br />OWASA who was present at the meeting, did not immediately return a request for comment. <br />Nelson said that the Chamber is helping companies file insurance claims, but that it doesn’t look like <br />many plans will cover the event — though he added there was some optimism as well. <br />“This was a multi-million dollar hit on the business community,” Nelson said, noting that it was hard <br />to provide a concrete estimate on the economic impact of the closures. He said that one hotel told <br />him it estimated losses at $150,000 and another hotel said it was $60,000.