Minutes 03-06-2025-Business Meeting

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16 assume all responsibility for all expenses incurred if it failed any time in the next 50 years, to pull in public sewer. Kevin Davidson said if the system had a malfunction or issue, it could be corrected. He said if the concern is drain field, rules require a back-up drain field that is already permitted. He said he is not aware of a system that uses this technology that says if it can fail how do we fix it, he said they can fix the physical piece. He said that they have a backup drain field. He said that bringing in city sewer is not a fix for the septic but if the line has been run, then he would guess they would connect to it, but he can't foresee a situation where it would be reasonable to extend city sewer. Commissioner McKee said his concern is to look after the finances of the county and if no one else would or could put in municipal sewer, it would fall to the county. He said he is trying to protect Orange County taxpayers from a potential cost in the future. Kevin Davidson said if a single-family residence system fails, they first try to find an onsite system. He said a lot of older systems do not have backup repair fields. He said they then permit discharge permits for those individual homeowners. He said there are times that DEQ will not permit a new system. He said in that situation, the homeowner has the option of going on a permanent pump and haul system. He said the homeowner, every time the septic fills up, has a pumper come in and haul it away. He said the same thing could be done on the system they are proposing. Commissioner McKee said he is hearing that the applicant would not be open to that condition. LeAnn Brown said if the conditional zoning is approved, it is approved with this system. She said if they get to a place where they could not provide a waste system, she said they would already be out of compliance with the state laws of North Carolina. She said those laws govern what they have to do for sewer. She said they would be out of compliance with the permit if they did not repair the problem. She said this would not fall to the county because they would not be the permit holder. She said that she does not want to agree to a condition that is 50 years out when they do not know what it might look like so far out. Kevin Davidson said that if they do not have a functioning system, they cannot occupy the property. Commissioner Greene said one thing she has learned is that water comes up through the limestone. She asked how they know where the aquafers are. Edwin Cox said there is an overlying layer of subsoil that is loose material that has weathered out of the rock, below is bedrock with fractures filled with water. He said they drill down into the fracture to draw up water. He said that if you do not hit a fracture, there will be a dry well. He said in many locations you hit a fracture and start to pump water out. He said as it pumps out, the level of the water in the fracture starts to drop, and the depth of draw down is at a lesser and lesser depth that radiates out in the shape of a cone. He said that is called the cone of depression. He said there are engineering methods for determining the cone of depression called the zone of influence. He said the zone of influence that is practical to consider is 1000 ft radius. He said that the location of this well is more than 1000 ft of any possible wells except one to the south. He said it is very unlikely that they would interfere with the function of that well. He said the water is recharged into the fractures from the overlying subsoil. He said they do not draw water out of the subsoil because it would be too slow. He said that the fracture water is a bit slower to fill and depends on many factors, including precipitation. Commissioner Greene asked again if the 1,000 ft. is a rule of thumb. Edwin Cox said yes. He said Guilford County has a rule when putting in new community wells, that they must do a draw down test. He said a community well is anything over 10,000 gallons a day in Guilford County. He said it is only required if there is a private well within 1000 feet of the well that is being drilled. Commissioner Fowler asked how difficult a draw down test is.