Orange County NC Website
~_ a.o k~ oos Pit=- ~/~s ! ~~ -~ ~. <br />RESOLUTION AMENDING THE 2001 WATER AND SEWER MANAGEMENT, <br />PLANNING AND BOUNDARY AGREEMENT AMONG CARRBORO, CHAPEL HILL, <br />HILLSBOROUGH, ORANGE COUNTY, AND OWASA <br />WHEREAS, Jordan Lake is a future water supply source for Carrboro, Chapel Hill, the <br />University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, and portions of Orange County; and <br />WHEREAS, OWASA, with the support of Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Orange County, <br />applied for and received a Jordan Lake water supply storage allocation from the North Carolina <br />Environmental Management Commission (EMC) in 1988, for which OWASA has since paid <br />more than $200,000; and <br />WHEREAS, Orange County has a million gallon per day allocation from the Jordan <br />Lake water supply for which the County has paid more than $31,000 since 1997 and from which <br />the County intends to draw in the future; and <br />WHEREAS, Hillsborough intends to request a million gallon per day allocation from the <br />Jordan Lake water supply for future emergency water supply and potential growth; and <br />WHEREAS, Jordan Lake's importance as a future supply source was confirmed in <br />OWASA's 2001 Comprehensive Water and Sewer Master Plan and re-affirmed in its 2010 <br />Long-Range Water Supply Plan, which stated that "It is essential that OWASA retain and <br />acquire access to its [Jordan Lake] allocation"; and <br />WHEREAS, OWASA, Hillsborough, and Orange County are playing an active role in <br />the Jordan Lake Partnership, which is facilitating coordinated applications to the EMC by <br />Triangle Area utilities who must justify their need for increasing or retaining their Jordan Lake <br />water supply storage allocations; and <br />WHEREAS, unimpeded access to OWASA's, Hillsborough's, and Orange County's <br />allocations will be an important consideration in obtaining the EMC's approval to retain or <br />secure those allocations; and <br />WHEREAS, the Towns of Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Hillsborough, Orange County, and <br />OWASA adopted a Water and Sewer Management, Planning and Boundary Agreement (the <br />Agreement) in 2001; and <br />WHEREAS, language in the Agreement is unclear about OWASA's, Hillsborough's, <br />and Orange County's ability to access their respective Jordan Lake water supply storage <br />allocations for use by OWASA, Hillsborough, and Orange County customers; and <br />WHEREAS, this lack of clarity may jeopardize OWASA's, Hillsborough's, and Orange <br />County's ability to obtain the EMC's approval to retain or secure their allocations; and <br />WHEREAS, this contributes to greater uncertainty in OWASA's, Hillsborough's, and <br />Orange County's long-range water supply and capital investment planning; and <br />