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periods into the hundreds of feet of old terra cotta (clay) wastewater drain lines. Over the years prior to 2000, County Public Works staff replaced all accessible terra cotta sewer lines (essentially all lines not located under the existing building slab) with new watertight plastic sewer pipe. While replacing the old sewer line did appear to address the bulk of the infiltration problems, some level of infiltration remained. For example, during the very rainy period of the first quarter of 2003, sewer flows averaging 3767 gpd (157% of design flow) occurred for 91 consecutive days (1/24/03 to 4/24/03).. Beginning in early 1998 with acquisition of a large adjoining tract adjacent to the western boundary of the NHSC property (Kennedy tract) intended for park development, the BOCC's interest in improving/remodeling the NHSC and maximizing its use was renewed, Staff was directed to develop strategies for addressing the limitations imposed on program expansion by the capacity of the existing wastewater treatment system. County Environmental Health and Engineering staff made a preliminary determination that a wastewater treatment system having a capacity in the 5000 to 6000 gpd range could provide the treatment capacity necessary to accommodate a maximized expansion of program activity in the NHSC building and the adjoining park. Furthermore, the system would provide sufficient excess capacity to sustain peak flows generated by very high system use and accommodate potential system infiltration, assuming the existing building and park facilities would be fitted or retrofitted with high efficiency plumbing fixtures. Environmental Health staff then evaluated the Kennedy tract to locate an area containing sails suitable for siting a 5000 to 6000 gpd nitrification field with 100% repair area. Unfortunately, the only suitable soils on the Kennedy tract were located in the area that also contained a significant stand of mature hardwood trees, The BOCC concluded that protecting the viability of the stand of hardwoods, which was determined to be inconsistent with the siting of a large nitrification field, should be the prevailing value in the use of the Kennedy tract. Environmental Health staff was then directed to evaluate the nitrification field siting potential of other adjoining properties not then under County ownership with the intent to acquire the necessary additional property, By 2002, the Environmental Health staff had determined that the Vincent property, located on the east side of and across NC 86 from the NHSC, would accommodate a nitrification field (with 100% repair area) having a capacity of 6000 gpd or more. The BOCC targeted the Vincent property for acquisition, a process that was not completed until late February 2004 (a consequence of unclear and convoluted heir title circumstances), At its 9 December 2003 meeting, the BOCC took another step in the process to upgrade the NHSC facility by approving a contract with Innovative Design (an architectural consulting firm). The contract included provisions for producing an evaluation of sustainable design elements far the building and a design far wastewater treatment system including a secondary treatment component using "Living Machine" technology, Specifically, Innovative Design was authorized to "design, assist in bidding, and provide construction administrative service to Orange County in implementing a Living Machine type system capable of treating up to 6000 gpd of waste," Synopsis of Preliminary Consultant ReportlRecommendations On 19 April 2004, after several meeting meetings between the consultant's staff (and sub- contracted consultants) with various County technical and management staff, Innovate Design submitted a report entitled "Report on Wastewater Alternatives Northern Services Center Orange County, NC -Executive Summary" (authored by Barrett L. Kays, Ph.D, of Landis, Inc, and Michael H. Nicklas, FAIA of Innovative Design). In the report, (as clarified or amended with