Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
28 <br />Recommendation 1 <br />Conduct further research into water-borne radon results in south- <br />central Orange, to see if there is a health concern present. Since the <br />geologic formation where the highest radon levels are found extends south <br />into Chatham County, the Board may wish to engage Chatham County in <br />discussing possible additional research that should be of mutual interest. <br />Recommendation 2 <br />Create an ongoing ground water monitoring program using wells <br />to evaluate changes in yield and water quality changes over time in <br />areas of the County that are seeing significant new development. <br />This monitoring system would provide an "early-warning system" to provide . <br />advance notice of impending ground water problems. It would also help <br />detect potential depletion of ground water storage in developments using <br />wells, as well as trends in availability, yield and quality over time. This data <br />could be compared against control well data in undeveloped areas measured <br />against piezometers (test wells) in new subdivisions. <br />Recommendation 3 <br />As the Commission for the Environment reviews ground water and <br />surface water resource management options, the Committee <br />recommends that a "water budget" approach be studied for use as a <br />means to tie together planning and use of these inextricably related <br />components- of our water resources. Changes in land use can change the <br />overall water budget -- urbanization and development tends to decrease <br />recharge and increase surface runoff This reduces ground water in storage <br />and increases the chance of flooding. The cumulative effects of development <br />within a basin can reduce baseflow to streams, which can adversely affect <br />instream flow needs for aquatic life and riparian vegetation habitat. More <br />information on water budgets may be found in Appendix H. <br />Recommendation 4 <br />Based. on the conservative approach to estimating sustainable <br />ground water yield in the 1996 USGS report, there are five <br />watersheds in the County that may not be able to sustain the <br />density of development that current zoning will permit. The <br />Committee recommends that potential changes to the zoning in <br />these watersheds be revisited as part of the ongoing update to the <br />Land Use Element of .the Comprehensive Plan, and that <br />sustainable round water field be incorporated into the decision- <br />21 <br />