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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: February 3, 2004 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. Ln -J <br />SUBJECT: OWASA Water Reclamation and Reuse, Biosolids Land Application Programs <br />DEPARTMENT: County Manager PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />OWASA Cover Letter w/Attachments <br />Water Reuse Feasibility Study Project <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Ed Kerwin, OWASA Executive Director <br />919-968-4421 <br />Brief Paul Thames, ext. 2300 <br />Key Principles To Be Included In Letter TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br />Of Understanding Between Hillsborough 732-8181 <br />OWASA And University Chapel Hill 968-4501 <br />Durham 688-7331 <br />Mebane 336-227-2031 <br />PURPOSE: To present the BOCC with information about OWASA's: 1) planned Water <br />Reclamation and Reuse Program and proposed implementation of water reclamation and reuse <br />system with the University; and 2) biosolids land application program. <br />BACKGROUND: For some time, OWASA has been interested in the prospect of utilizing <br />reclaimed wastewater to meet at least some of the water demands of its customers that do not <br />necessarily require potable water. OWASA has partnered with its largest water customer, the <br />University of North Carolina, to study the feasibility of water reuse. Specifically, OWASA and <br />the University hired Hazen and Sawyer, an environmental and engineering consultant, to <br />produce the Water Reclamation and Reuse Study. The study was completed in dune 2003, <br />The University and OWASA have concluded, on the basis of this study and follow-tap pilot <br />studies, that it is technically, environmentally and economically feasible to use reclaimed <br />wastewater to meeting many non-potable water needs on the University's main campus. Now <br />OWASA and the University are planning to jointly develop a water reclamation and reuse <br />system. <br />The BOCC has requested that OWASA present information to the Board and the public at a <br />regular televised BOCC meeting. Mark Marcoplos, OWASA Board Chair, will make that <br />presentation at the BOCC's February 3, 2004 meeting. <br />OWASA also operates a waste treatment process/program in which it land applies biosolids <br />derived from its wastewater treatment plant. Historically, OWASA has land applied biosolids in <br />Orange and Chatham Counties on land that it owns and land owned by others. Biosolids, which <br />have a fairly high nutrient content, are generally applied to land at agronomic rates (as fertilizer) <br />in a process that is regulated and permitted by the NC Division of Water Quality.