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a/ 03 C . re or c now o save Stancil recommends Orange County establish a - short-term air quality committee to develop strate ra areas gies for reducing our contributions to local and ,naturegional ozone levels, l The county also should develop the capability to BY . BETH VELLIQUETTE . generate accurate and comprehensive air:emis- bvelliquette@heraldsun.com 732-6397 sions inventories, and it should hire a full-time . CHAPEL HILL .— Efforts to protect Orange staff member to work on strategies for improving County's environment are not keeping pace with the air quality in Orange County, Stancil said. the loss of its natural areas to suburban and urban Between 1982 and 1997, 18,000 acres of forest- use, according to the County's first State of the land was converted to °other uses; and urban land use_ has grown from 24,000 acres to - 45,000 acres, Environment report released Saturday. "We don't have to look very far to see how pop- an increase of 88 percent, Stancil said. ulation and land-use changes . have .affected our In Orange County, 8,000 acres are permanently natural resources in Orange County," - said David protected, and another 9,00.0 acres are partially Stancil, director of Orange County's Environment protected, which is roughly : 6.7 percent ' of the and Resource Conservation Department. "Fortu- county's total land area. Stancil recommends that nately, we. have been able to protect and preserve the county. set a goal of protecting 10 percent of a lot of important places in the county However; its total land area 25,600 acres by 2010a we all know of prime. forests, and natural areas that "We could even come up with a catchy slogan," have been lost." he said. "Ten by ten.'' Stancil presented the report Saturday at the The report also recommends .that Orange Coun- Orange County Environmental Summit heldat the ty begin promoting water reclamation to preserve N.C. Botanical Garden. About 60 people turned out its water supply. to hear about the report and listen to keynote "It is recommended that Orange County work speaker Reid Wilson, who is the new executive with newly formed groups in this area and our director of the Conservation Trust for North Car- water providers to try to reduce the future olina demand on our limited resources," Stancil said. From 1970 to 2000, Orange County's population "We are not in a crisis mode now, but last year's doubled from 57,000 to 124,000 residents, - Stancil drought has illustrated how quickly . status can said. change, and it's best to. be ahead of the curve." "That's a dramatic change in 30 years," he said. L The county also needs to expand its monitoring "As our population has doubled, the amount of of possible ground water contamination and edu- developed land has likewise increased - 87 per- cate well owners about the importance of testing cent from 1982 to 1997." their water for contaminants, he said: on air, biologic The report focused al and water The report is expected to be posted on the Orange Coun- resources. ty Web site — http://www.co.orange.nc.us/ = next week. Although Orange County does not have an ozone People can read -it or download it for free or, to obtain a monitor, the Triangle was rated as one of the worst copy for $10, call 245-2590. ozone-polluted ' areas in the United States; the -- report said . "Because we have no monitor in Orange County, it is very hard for us to get a sense of the impacts on our citizens of ozone levels," he said. "Certainly, Durham and Wake counties are expected to be 'the primary contributors, but air knows no county lines. Stay tuned."