Agenda - 09-02-2008 - 6e - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 ~a" • Review of documents requested and provided by Chatham County and OWASA George Lucier said that his understanding is that the Chatham County staff is working with OWASA and other entities to see what needs to be done to facilitate a regional water supply out of Jordan Lake for the western intake. Ed Kervvin said that there has not been recent activity on the intake issue, but there has been some work on the other study that was discussed about connections. OWASA Director of Planning Ed Holland said that at the August 14~' meeting, there was information about a small study that OWASA was participating in with the City of Durham and the Town of Cary. This study is about how the interconnections between OWASA, Cary, and Durham might be optimized or upgraded for these three jurisdictions. Chatham County expressed an interest in possibly participating. There has been some work on this. The discussions were left-that Chatham County would not be a formal participant in this study, because some of the information does not exist yet, but they would approach how Chatham County could be served with this interconnection. The work is moving fonivard. Geon~e Lucierlett at 6:54 p.m. . Ed Kervvin said that this is a very important topic with the drought. Last week's rain only increased OWASA's water supply by less than one percent. It is important to discuss water issues all the time and not just when there is a drought. .Charlie Home said that, in his mind, what Chatham County is faced with is riparian rights and issues surrounding that. He said that Jordan Lake is seen as full and all are going to look at it as the answer to their water problems. Commissioner Jacobs asked what sense of urgency OWASA was getting from the State for regional planning for Jordan Lake. Ed Kerwin said that the Governor's Office is taking the strategy seriously, and the Policy Advisor facilitated a meeting last week that he attended along with others to discuss the water crisis and the need for a more unified message about conservation. He said that utilities do not have a simple answer for this. The other issue is funding for regional water systems. Carolyn Efland said that UNC was asked to send copies of its water bills to the State immediately. Today the responsibility was put under Crime Control and Public Safety that the State's emergency response group is now managing the drought. She thinks the message is that the State takes it seriously. She said that right now the reservoir is way lower than it was before the 2002 drought, so by next summer, the State could be in dire straits. She is worried that the citizenry does not realize this. She said that there was so much discussion about reclaimed water use, and after the 2002 drought, there was a lot of serious work on it. This is just now under construction and will not be ready until 2009. She said that this is seven years from when they really got serious about reclaimed water use. Mayor Chilton said that seven years is good for developing anything of this magnitude. Mayor Chilton made reference to the western intake issue and asked, if they were able to work on this together, what kind of timetable would Chatham County need. Charlie Home said that Chatham's need for water will be quicker than Durham and OWASA's need, and the timeframe at this point is that Chatham will need it within the next 10- 15years. There is an effort now to increase the allocation from Jordan Lake. Mayor Chilton said that Chatham County, OWASA, Orange County, and the City of Durham have an allocation from Jordan Lake. Ed Kennrin said that OWASA is working hard to not ever need water from Jordan Lake, but it wants to keep the allocation. Based on the current planning, there is a greater risk of shortage before the quarry reservoir comes online in the 2030's. OWASA's interest is preserving some future flexibility and minimizing any expense for that.