Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
There are no dam /reservoir permitting conditions requiring that Hillsborough use the water <br />in the West Fork reservoir to do anything other than supplement its previously existing Eno <br />River raw water supply. According to the Capacity Use Agreement, the Eno water supply <br />is and has been available with only one restriction during high flow periods (total <br />withdrawal cannot exceed an amount that equals the first stage of Eno water restrictions <br />plus water supply available from a source outside the Lake Orange /Eno system) and with <br />limitations during periods of low flow instream flow. There are no requirements that <br />Hillsborough use water from its reservoir to meet its water supply demand in lieu of using <br />its Eno allocation during low flow periods. Under permitting and Capacity Use conditions, <br />Hillsborough may limit its releases from its reservoir to those sufficient to provide for: <br />a) minimum instream flow release requirements; and b) the difference between its raw <br />water demand and the water withdrawal limits specified by the Capacity Use Agreement. <br />It is conceivable that a situation could arise in which the Hillsborough reservoir remains full <br />or nearly full while Lake Orange has been virtually emptied. <br />It is unlikely that Hillsborough would have ever undertaken the development of its reservoir <br />and the associated expense if it had been required to use the new water supply as <br />anything other than a supplement to its allocation from the existing Eno /Lake Orange <br />system. The 1.8 mgd yield of the reservoir is not large and, absent the water supply from <br />Lake Orange, would not serve to meet the Town's needs far into the future. Under such <br />circumstances, developing the reservoir would not have been economically feasible. <br />Furthermore, the practical effect of a requirement that Hillsborough use the water from its <br />reservoir rather than that from Lake Orange would be that Hillsborough's new water supply <br />would be used to sustain elevated levels of water use by the Orange- Alamance Water <br />System and Piedmont Minerals as well as the normal instream flow release. This situation <br />would arise because the elimination or reduction of releases for Hillsborough would allow <br />the water level in Lake Orange to remain high for longer periods of time. As the Capacity <br />Use specified instream flow and withdrawal rates for the other users are tied to the water <br />level at Lake Orange, those rates would also remain at higher levels for longer periods. <br />Thus, Hillsborough would be subsidizing those other water demands. <br />Hillsborough Water /Utility Rates <br />Over the past few years, the BOCC has been approached by individuals and groups who <br />are Town of Hillsborough utility customers living outside of the Town boundaries. These <br />individuals and groups have expressed strong discontent with Town utility rates and the <br />Town's practice of charging double rates to those utility customers living beyond the <br />corporate boundaries. Furthermore, these individuals and groups can demonstrate that <br />that the Town's utility rates are much higher than the norm for this area. And finally, out - <br />of -town utility customers have argued that there is no economic justification for charging <br />Hillsborough's out -of -town customers — no matter where they live — twice the utility rate for <br />in -town customers, no matter where they live. <br />That the Town's utility rates are very high a matter of common knowledge and is freely <br />acknowledged by Town officials. The Town's utility rates increased dramatically several <br />years ago coinciding with the Town's expending the funds necessary to improve its utility <br />draft <br />