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<br />ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: November 5, 2020 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 7-a <br /> <br />SUBJECT: Interim Alternative Implementation Approach (IAIA) – Upper Neuse River Basin <br />Association (Falls Lake Rules) <br /> <br />DEPARTMENT: DEAPR, County Attorney, <br />Planning and Inspections <br />(Engineering) <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br /> <br />1 - Executive Summary of the IAIA, Core <br />Principles and Timeline <br />2 - Falls Lake Watershed Map <br />3 - Orange County Watershed Maps <br />4 – Under Separate Cover <br />UNRBA Background Information is <br />available online at: <br />http://unrba.org/sites/default/files/URNBA_Fast- <br />Facts-Dec-2018_FINAL_190115_0.pdf <br /> <br />http://unrba.org/sites/default/files/UNRBA_Infogr <br />aphic-Dec-2018_FINAL_190115_0.pdf <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Commissioner Sally Greene 245-2130 <br />Commissioner Jamezetta Bedford 2130 <br />David Stancil, 245-2522 <br />Craig Benedict 245-2592 <br />James Bryan, 245-2319 <br />Wesley Poole, 245-2513 <br />Christopher Sandt, 245-2583 <br /> <br />PURPOSE: To consider joining the Upper Neuse River Basin Association’s (UNRBA’s) planned <br />and coordinated multi-jurisdictional implementation approach to implementing Stage 1 of the <br />Falls Lake Watershed Rules, promulgated by the N.C. Division of Water Resources. <br /> <br />BACKGROUND: Orange County was a founding member of the UNRBA, which was created in <br />the 1990’s to coordinate mandatory watershed protection efforts among the jurisdictions of the <br />Falls Lake watershed. Falls Lake (henceforth, “the Lake”), located in Durham and Wake <br />counties, serves as the primary water supply source for Raleigh and many Wake County <br />municipalities. Most of central, eastern and northeastern Orange County is located within the <br />Falls Lake watershed (please see Attachments 2 and 3). <br /> <br />As the Falls Lake Nutrient Management Strategy (henceforth, “the Rules”) was adopted in 2011 <br />to address nutrient loading in the Lake (primarily nitrogen and phosphorus), the UNRBA began <br />to work as a coordinating entity among the jurisdictions to address this effort and to pursue a re- <br />examination of the Rules. Implementation of the Rules, which would occur in two stages, has <br />been estimated to cost the combined watershed jurisdictions over $1.5 billion in total to address. <br />In addition, evaluation of the Rules by water quality consultants has determined that the <br />proposed reductions as originally adopted are not technically feasible and that a new method is <br />needed. (Prior estimates of Orange County’s likely costs to address the Rules, if it acted on its <br />own, have ranged as high as $46 million over a 10-year period.) <br />1