
{"id":16522,"date":"2011-03-10T10:41:44","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T15:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=16522"},"modified":"2011-03-10T10:41:53","modified_gmt":"2011-03-10T15:41:53","slug":"owasa%e2%80%99s-jordan-lake-plan-draws-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2011\/03\/10\/owasa%e2%80%99s-jordan-lake-plan-draws-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"OWASA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Jordan Lake plan draws concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Kirk Ross<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>CARRBORO  \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Its planners say the Orange Water and Sewer Authority\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to formally seek its Jordan Lake water allocation is a common-sense move. But for some, the move represents a significant departure from current policy.<\/p>\n<p>OWASA recently won approval from town boards in Hillsborough and Chapel Hill, but ran into trouble in Carrboro last week when the board of aldermen refused to sign off on OWASA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s use of Jordan Lake water, citing concerns about the quality of the lake\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s water and disagreeing with OWASA that it is needed at all.<\/p>\n<p>Ed Holland, OWASA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s engineer in charge of long-range planning, said that the utility already has the ability to draw from the lake in case of an emergency via its connection with Durham, which draws its Jordan Lake water through the Town of Cary\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intake.<\/p>\n<p>The state periodically reviews the allocations for Jordan Lake and launched the most recent review in January 2010. Holland said OWASA is working with the consortium of Jordan Lake partners to update its information and make its case for the use of the water. Otherwise, he said, the state could reduce or eliminate the 5-million-gallons-per-day allocation.<\/p>\n<p>Holland said the utility, which has dealt with two extreme droughts in the past decade, wants to change is official status with the state to ensure an allocation in the event levels get low again. Cary, which has been willing to sell OWASA water in the past, might not always be in a position to do so, Holland said.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This would allow us to get what we need without the withdraw being charged to Cary or Durham\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s allocation,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>But former OWASA board Chair Mark Marcoplos said he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worried about the Jordan Lake efforts, not just because he shares concerns over the quality of the water but because interlinking the area\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s water supplies, an effort being pushed throughout the state, comes at a cost.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a slippery slope. Right now we have local control over about 95 percent of our water supply,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Marcoplos said in a recent interview. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Slowly and surely, we could lose control of our water future. We could lose control of rates, we could lose control over water quality.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Marcoplos said he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s concerned that OWASA is reversing a long-term strategy without seeking extensive public input.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We need an independent and resilient water supply,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>County Manager Frank Clifton said he sees the logic in asking for the allocation, especially if by not doing so it could be taken away.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have an interest in Jordan Lake,  long term,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. Having an allocation, he said, means the county can provide input on issues around the lake, including water quality. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have an allocation, we could lose our seat at the table.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Clifton said the county is mainly interested in the additional water as a possible source for economic development along the I-40 and I-85 corridors. Since the county doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t operate its own water utility, it would likely transfer its share of the allocation to water systems in Mebane and Hillsborough, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Carrboro Board of Aldermen member Dan Coleman said he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s concerned that the community\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s historical tilt toward conservation and tight control over water supply and the watershed is threatened by the influx of Jordan Lake water. He said in the event of an extreme emergency, water can still be drawn from Cary\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intake through Durham, but that otherwise \u00e2\u20ac\u0153we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need to drink that water.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Coleman said the social compact that created a locally controlled water supply shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be undone. With the recent strides in conservation and OWASA slated to assume additional capacity once the American Stone Quarry shuts down in 2030, Coleman said he believes the locally controlled strategy should be sufficient.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Given the quality and extent of the water resources we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve created here in southern Orange County,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Coleman said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think we can and should live within our means.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>He said there are strong feelings on the board about keeping a local, sustainable system.<\/p>\n<p>Holland said since the water and sewer boundary agreement requires  agreement from all local governments, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not yet sure how Carrboro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision not to authorize OWASA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s requested change will affect immediate plans.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Clearly, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something that has to be worked out,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Its planners say the Orange Water and Sewer Authority\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to formally seek its Jordan Lake water allocation is a common-sense move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16522"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16558,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16522\/revisions\/16558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}