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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: September 12, 2000 Action Agenda Item No. SUBJECT: Oran a Alamance Utili S stem Re ort DEPARTMENT: County Manager PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTACHMENT_(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: County Engineer's report County Engineer, ext 2303 (Under Separate Cover) TELEPHONE NUMBERS: O/A Corporate Bylaws Hillsborough 732-$181 O/A Articles of Incorporation Chapel Hill 968-4501 O/A Amended Articles .of Incorporation Durham 688-7331 O/A Orange County Service Area Map Mebane 336-227-2031 PURPOSE: To provide the BOCC with general information as to the Orange-Alamance Water System to provide, to the extent possible, answers to specific questions posed by Commissioner Jacobs. BACKGROUND: The Orange-Alamance Water System is anon-profit rural membership corporation that is classified under North Carolina health/environmental health statutes as a public water supply utility. It was officially incorporated in September 1965 and became operational in August 1968. In its 32 years of operation, the system has grown from its original 100,000 gallon per day (gpd) demand from 360 customers in Orange and Alamance Counties to a system which currently serves 3600 commercial, industrial, institutional and residential customers (approximately 1200 in Orange County, 2400 in Alamance County) with an average water consumption of 1.0 million gallons per day. The terms of the Eno River Capacity Use Agreement limit Orange-Alamance to a Stage I raw water withdrawal of 820,000 gallons per day during periods of low flow, which typically occur for approximately six months of the year. On several occasions, one lasting for as long as a month, Orange-Alamance has been limited to withdrawals as low as 700,000 gallons per day. Orange- Alamance makes up the difference between its Eno River allocations and its actual water demand by means of purchases of treated water from other water systems and/or by the use of well water from its single operational high-capacity drinking water well. Another high capacity drinking water well is due to become operational in the very near future. Orange-Alamance faces a number of challenges in its effort to meet the ever-increasing water demand of its growing customer base. Although it has transferred some of its larger customers to other water systems, it probably needs to upgrade the equipment in its water plant and its water demand often exceeds its treatment capacity. Furthermore, the water supply currently available to Orange-Alamance is often insufficient to meet to its existing demand.