ORANGE WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY
Quality Service Since 1977
April 29, 2005
|
Mayor
Kevin Foy
Town
of Chapel Hill
306
North Columbia Street
Chapel
Hill, NC 27516
|
Chairman
Moses Carey
Orange County Board of Commissioners
Post
Office Box 8181
Hillsborough, NC 27278
|
Mayor
Michael Nelson
Town
of Carrboro
310
West Main Street
Carrboro, NC 27510
|
Dear
Mayor Foy, Chairman Carey, and Mayor Nelson:
Enclosed is our quarterly
report for January through March, 2005. We believe that this summary of
recent and upcoming activities reflects OWASA’s commitment to a high level of
customer service and environmental stewardship, efficient management,
affordable rates, and community collaboration to which you and our customers
are entitled.
Please feel free to contact me
or our staff if you would like an in-person presentation or further details
about any of the items in the enclosed report.
Sincerely,
Mark Marcoplos, Chairman
Board of Directors
Enclosure
c: Mr. W. Calvin
Horton, Chapel Hill Town Manager (with Enclosure)
Mr. John Link,
Orange County Manager (with Enclosure)
Mr. Steven Stewart, Carrboro Town Manager (with
Enclosure)
OWASA Board
of Directors (with Enclosure)
Ed Kerwin, Executive Director
ORANGE WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY
Quality Service Since 1977
Quarterly OWASA Report to Local Governments
April 28, 2005
Background and Purpose
This report summarizes OWASA
activities from January through March 2005 that may be of interest to elected
officials of Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Orange County. Additional information
is available on request. OWASA staff or Board members are glad to provide
in-person presentations if desired.
I. Ongoing Initiatives
This section reviews key issues
and items of ongoing interest. Some are continuations of previous activities;
others are new. A summary of each item is presented in normal font with new
or updated status shown in italics.
OWASA/UNC Water Reuse Project
– The non-potable reuse project with UNC will be financially
self-supporting. Capital funding responsibilities, the basis for reclaimed
water rates, and other technical matters will be specified in a detailed
contract that is currently being developed between OWASA and the University.
OWASA has obtained a $1.8 million grant from the North Carolina Clean Water
Management Trust Fund to pay for engineering and design work for the reuse
system, and Congressman David Price helped obtain an additional $645,000 grant
from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Negotiations over specific
provisions of the contract between OWASA and UNC are currently underway. Both
parties have retained technical and financial consultants to assist in contract
development. Final engineering design work is now underway with
construction planned to begin in 2006 and be completed in 2007. Town of Chapel Hill approval will be needed for certain reclaimed water pumping, storage, and
transmission facilities.
First Annual Sustainability
Report – OWASA’s first report on sustainability goals and practices will be
completed in early May. The report addresses water and energy conservation,
reuse of wastewater biosolids, source water protection, wastewater treatment
advancements, and internal OWASA practices regarding vehicle maintenance,
office paper, and other recycling opportunities.
Community Outreach Meeting – OWASA held a community outreach meeting on March 31, 2005 at the Carrboro Century Center. The meeting’s purpose was to receive feedback from
interested customers and community organizations about OWASA services and
projects and to present some of our key initiatives for the future. Despite
extensive publicity, the meeting was attended by fewer than a dozen citizens.
Capital Improvement Projects –
OWASA’s capital improvements program includes several projects that require
local permits. One such project is a new finished water pumping station and
related water main work on Old Durham Road west of Interstate-40, which will
significantly increase the capacity to transfer treated drinking water to and
from Durham during emergencies or outage conditions. The water line
construction is estimated to be complete in May 2005, and a Special Use Permit
application has been submitted to the Town of Chapel Hill for the booster pump
station. Additional local permits required for the station may include a
Zoning Compliance Permit (ZCP) and construction and engineering permits.
Another capital project currently
underway is the wastewater pump station phase-out and sewer line improvement in
the North Forest Hills area, for which OWASA received a zoning Compliance Permit. Construction is expected to be
completed in May.
Phase-out of the Cleland Drive Pump Station and replacement of the Cleland Drive water and sewer lines will
likely begin next fall and will require about four months to complete. This
project will involve excavation along Cleland Drive between Burning Tree and Rogerson Drive.
A similar gravity sewer project
in Carrboro will allow the Lloyd Street and Starlite Drive pump stations to be
phased out and will provide sewer service to several unserved properties. These
pump stations were constructed by the Town of Carrboro before OWASA was
created. Design has been completed and OWASA staff are currently acquiring
needed easements and permits. construction
will likely begin in late summer or early fall, with completion scheduled later
in 2005. Elected official approval may be needed for easements on separate
parcels owned by the Towns of Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Orange County.
A major sewer line replacement
and rehabilitation project will begin later this year in portions of Chapel Hill draining toward Bolin Creek. More than 12 miles of sewer lines and nearly 600
manholes will be repaired or replaced over a period of approximately three
years. Although much of the underground work will include “trenchless”
methods, such as slip-lining and cured-in-place technology, the project will
also require some excavation in and near public streets. Additional details
about this project will be provided in the future.
Additional water and sewer
line replacement and rehabilitation work will occur in coming months in the
Colony Woods neighborhood as well as in the vicinities of Markham Drive, Velma Road, Old Oxford Road, and Brookside Apartments. Further details are available on
request.
Booth Road/Abbey Road Water Pressure Issues –
Since
its inception, OWASA has provided water service to eight residential properties
in the Booth Road/Abbey Road vicinity just south of Starpoint in Chatham County. This area is subject to lower than desired water pressures due to its
elevated topography. Options for resolving these problems included the
addition of a new pumping facility at a capital cost of more than $200,000 or
transferring the service of these eight customers from OWASA to the Chatham County system. In February 2005 the OWASA Board of Directors agreed to
transfer service to Chatham County. The actual changeover will not occur until
additional decisions are made by Chatham County about whether a public water
main or private water service lines will be extended along Abbey Road.
II. New or Recent Issues
General Operating Conditions –
OWASA’s reservoir system has been virtually full since the beginning of
September 2004. There appears to be little risk of drought-related reservoir
depletion during the next 18 months. At OWASA’s request, Dr. Larry Band, of UNC’s Department of Geography, has been awarded funding by the Urban Water
Consortium of the Water Resources Research Institute to study the
characteristics of extreme weather events, such as the drought of 2001-2002, in
order to estimate the likely recurrence frequency of similar conditions and the
effects on such events of long term changes in climate and land use. Dr.
Band will discuss this project with the OWASA Board on May 26, 2005.
OWASA customer water demand and
operating revenues for January through March remained below budgeted
projections.
Reimbursement to Developers
Who Install Water or Sewer Infrastructure – The Chapel hill Town Council and Orange County
Board of Commissioners requested that OWASA consider instituting a policy that
would allow parties who install water and sewer lines to recover some of their
installation costs from other parties who later make use of those facilities.
This question arose during discussion of the Town’s upcoming Operations Center project on Millhouse Road and the County’s Twin Creeks school and park
project off of Old Highway 86. Issues were outlined in a March 23, 2005 letter
from OWASA’s Executive Director to the Managers of Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and
Orange County, and are included in the April 28, 2005 agenda for the Orange
County Assembly of Governments.
Mason Farm Wastewater
Treatment Plant (WWTP) Improvements – Substantial construction progress has
occurred at OWASA’s Mason Farm WWTP, where a capacity upgrade and major
improvements in odor control, nutrient removal efficiency, and operating
reliability are underway. Per the Town of Chapel Hill’s Special Use Permit,
OWASA staff provided an annual report on offsite odor elimination work to the
Town on January 21, 2005.
Water Conservation Goal
and Objectives -- The Board of Directors adopted a Goal and
Objectives for OWASA’s Long-Term Water Conservation and Demand Management
Program on April 14, 2005. An important element of the goal is “eliminating
the need for costly new water supply sources and facilities.” In addition to
specific demand targets, this document establishes guidelines for
cost-effectiveness, customer satisfaction, and fiscal impacts that will be
weighed when considering new conservation and demand management programs. The
OWASA Board will revisit the Goal and Objectives periodically and revise
them as necessary in light of future conditions and information that becomes
available. Copies of the resolution and goals/objectives paper have been
provided to the Towns and County under separate cover.
III. Planning Issues with Other Local Governments
Service to Future Chapel Hill
and Carrboro Annexation Areas – In January 2005, OWASA staff compiled
information requested by the Town of Chapel Hill regarding water and/or sewer
service available to neighborhoods in designated potential future annexation
areas. Similar information had been provided to Carrboro in November 2004.
Brookfield Drive Sewer Proposal and University Lake
Water/Sewer Extension Policies – OWASA, Carrboro, and Orange County staff met in October
2004 to discuss options and constraints for providing limited sewer service to
portions of the Brookfield neighborhood in the University lake watershed if it is determined that
such service is necessary for public health reasons. Earlier information about
the technical and financial options for resolving ongoing problems with septic
systems was reviewed. Staff discussed relevant Carrboro, Orange County, Joint Planning Area, and OWASA policies, as well as the “adverse public health”
provisions of the Water and Sewer Management, Planning and Boundary
Agreement, to which Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Orange County, Hillsborough, and
OWASA are parties. The Orange County Health Department has collected
field information about current conditions in the vicinity of Brookfield Drive and will report back to local staff.
Orange County Lands Legacy Program – In February, OWASA and Orange County completed the joint purchase of conservation easements on property of the
Lloyd family in the Cane Creek watershed. Orange County is interested in
acquiring farmland preservation easements through the County’s Lands Legacy program, and OWASA seeks to ensure the
reservoir’s long term water quality by limiting future development and
protecting riparian (stream) buffers.
During October the Orange County
Board of Commissioners and OWASA Board of Directors adopted an Agreement
Regarding Co-Holding of Conservation Easements, through which OWASA and the
County will share the costs and co-hold the conservation easements. Total land
costs was $425,000 for the 125 acres, to be shared evenly by Orange County and OWASA, along with ancillary costs, such as surveys and appraisals.
Annual Update of OWASA’s Comprehensive Water and
Sewer Master Plan – OWASA staff updated its 2001 Master Plan with recent data,
strategic trends, and commentary in October 2004. Printed copies and
supporting graphics of the full update report are available on request from
OWASA, or can be viewed online at
http://www.owasa.org/pages/MasterPlanRev04.pdf.