Orange Water and Sewer Authority, the nonprofit agency providing water and sewer services to Chapel Hill and Carrboro, may soon face a tough decision: to start using Jordan Lake water or to give up its claim to the lake entirely.

Granted, the agency is months – maybe years – away from seeing the options fully play out, but residents who want their voices heard should speak now, said OWASA board member Will Raymond. He doesn’t want people to wish they’d been in the know sooner.

“Two years before Greenbridge, I was trying to get people involved,” he said. “Nobody cared because it was so dull, but now that it’s too late people are upset.”

“This is another one of those situations: deadly dull and doesn’t seem to have any consequences, but it really does.”

THE BASICS, SIMPLIFIED

With the help of the Division of Water Resources, the N.C. Environmental Management Commission (EMC) allots water from Jordan Lake to entities that apply for it (such as cities or agencies like OWASA). There are two levels of allocations: level one is for those actively using the water or those getting ready to use it in the next few years by laying pipes or preparing a treatment plant; level two is for those who don’t plan to use it as a part of their daily system, but need it as a backup in the event of a drought or other emergency. Other emergencies would include the contamination of OWASA’s reservoirs by chemical spills or toxic algal bloom and the loss of another component of the system, meaning the dam, transmission facility or storage.

OWASA has had a level two allocation since 1988 but never used it, not even in the 2001-02 record drought – the worst drought the area had seen in 77 years – when lake levels fell to 32 percent capacity. However, the board of directors has stood by keeping it as a backup.

OK, SO WHAT’S CHANGED?

In the last several months OWASA, the town council and a few concerned citizens have talked about a fear that OWASA might lose its allocation. The OWASA board of directors has asked the town council twice for permission to apply for a level one allocation. The board argued that the EMC wouldn’t take away a level one allocation, but its level two was at risk.

The council responded with, and has remained in a state of, confusion. Why does OWASA think it might lose its allocation? Doesn’t level one require us to use Jordan Lake water? We don’t want to use Jordan Lake water — it’s nasty!

Here is how this all began: after a Jordan Lake Partnership meeting last spring OWASA’s planning director  Ed Holland overheard Tom Fransen, the deputy director of the NC Division of Water Resources, make a comment about OWASA being at risk of losing its allocation.

“The context was looking at the early draft supply and demands numbers being presented, and that fact that OWASA has had an allocation since 1988 and has not used any Jordan water,” Fransen said in an email this week. “I never said they would lose their allocation, only they are at risk of losing or having it reduced without a strong justification.

“The comment was never intended to be DWR’s official response, just an initial reaction to what was presented.”

Nevertheless, Ed Kerwin, the OWASA executive director, said the agency is taking the comment seriously.

“Staff gave the comment ‘weight’ because we believe the opinion of the Deputy Director of the Division of Water Resources matters,” said Kerwin in an email to Raymond in late October.

“Staff believes that we should gain secure and permanent access to our Jordan Lake allocation as soon as possible because no one knows when the next drought or other emergency condition will occur.”

Thus far, OWASA has treated the problem as if applying for a level one allocation will secure its claim. At the same time, the board has consistently stated that it would only use Jordan Lake water in the event of an emergency, which may be at odds with the level one rules.

According to the DWR website, level one allocations are made “when withdrawals are planned to begin within five years of receiving the allocation.”

So does that mean if OWASA applies for and receives level one allocation, it has to start using Jordan Lake water within five years? Neither the EMC nor the DWR have a way of enforcing this, said Fransen, but every five years the DWR goes to the EMC with a status update. If the agencies felt OWASA wasn’t following through, they could certainly reduce or take away the allocation.

But Fransen said he doesn’t see the EMC granting OWASA a level one allocation in the first place – not unless something changes in its policy.

“OWASA is trying to use this system in a way it was never intended to be used,” he said.

Level one and two allocations are not about security, he said, they’re about getting the right amount of water to the right entities.

The last round of allocation applications and grants was 10 years ago, but the EMC will begin taking applications again in the summer. All entities holding allocations will be asked to reapply and justify their allocation if they wish to keep it, Fransen said.

For some this may not be a big deal, but because OWASA has had a level two allocation for 23 years but not used it, Fransen said they will have to provide a strong justification for simply keeping it.

To get a level one, he said, the agency would have to take steps toward using Jordan Lake water, such as laying the piping.

“You don’t lay pipes overnight,” Fransen said. “If you get into a drought and you don’t have the infrastructure, you’re screwed.

“To say that you’re going to use it for an emergency but don’t put anything in — that makes us think you aren’t going to have it to use.”

He added that with more entities applying for allocations, it’s important that agencies and municipalities that need the water get it.

“If OWASA applies for the same allocation again, we are asking them to justify why they should be able to keep their level two if they aren’t actually using it,” Fransen said. “And if they applied for a level one, we would expect to see them getting the infrastructure together to start using Jordan.”

THE POSSIBILITIES

STATUS QUO
OWASA decides not to pursue a level one and provides the EMC with a strong enough justification for keeping its allocation. This is also a possible outcome if OWASA applies for a level one allocation without taking steps towards setting up piping and is denied, but allowed to keep its level two allocation.

“I think what we all want is for things to stay the same,” said town council member Penny Rich in October. “I think the council likes the idea of having Jordan Lake for emergencies, but we don’t want to use it otherwise.

“I certainly don’t want to drink that nasty water.”

Cost: the usual $12,000 a year

HELLO, JORDAN LAKE
OWASA decides to apply for a level one allocation, lays piping to transport Jordan Lake water to treatment plant and begins to pull water from Jordan Lake into its system.

Fransen said that if OWASA wants to receive a level one allocation, the agency needs to present a plan to start using the water within the next few years as the DWR rules require.

Rich said in October that even if OWASA wanted to start using Jordan Lake water, she doesn’t see the Chapel Hill or Carrboro governments agreeing.

“We’ve both already turned them down once. Neither cities are OK with putting that water in our homes and businesses unless it’s an emergency.”

Rich and Raymond both said they can’t see the government agreeing to this kind of proposal unless OWASA proves that it really is necessary for future growth and security.

“Or, of course, something goes terribly wrong and we lose one of our current water sources to some unforeseen tragedy in the next couple of months,” Raymond said.

Cost: about $46.7 million total (a one-time payment of about $250,000 for a level one allocation, a roughly $40 million infrastructure project and $6.4 million per million gallons daily during use)

GOODBYE, JORDAN LAKE
OWASA loses its Jordan Lake allocation in the next round of grants because the EMC does not consider its justification strong enough.

“This is what they’re so afraid of,” said Raymond. “But honestly, I don’t think it would be that big of a deal. Even in the 2001 and 2002 drought we didn’t use the water, and that was a nasty drought.”

But Ed Holland has expressed concern over the past months. As the town continues to grow, he said, the risk of needing extra water in a time of drought increases.

New Chapel Hill Town Council member Lee Storrow said he is determined not to let OWASA lose its allocation.

“I was really explicit during my campaign that if there really was a threat of losing their allocation, I fully support doing whatever it takes,” he said. “I think most people would agree that the quality of Jordan Lake water is not as high as we have in Orange County, but we also have really high standards for our water.”

“Ensuring we have access to water is a basic public health issue,” he added.

Fransen declined to make any official prediction, saying he would need to see OWASA’s application before judging whether or not he expected the EMC to grant it.

“They are going to have to provide a strong justification,” he said. “But again, I don’t make that call.”

Cost: none

A DEAL WITH CARY

OWASA makes a deal with Cary, which already has a tap to Jordan Lake and sells lake water to other communities, in order to have access to Jordan Lake water in emergency situations.

Raymond said on Jan. 11 that he expects OWASA to approach Cary about making a deal that doesn’t require OWASA to upgrade from a level one to a level two allocation.

“Cary is already selling to three other entities,” he said, “one of which has no allocation at all.”

Cary holds a level one allocation but does not use all of the water it has access to, Raymond said, so a deal could conceivably be made ensuring that Cary would sell water to OWASA in emergency situations.

The question, he added, is whether or not Cary feels it has enough water to promise OWASA this.

“Is Cary willing to sell us water from their own allocation in an emergency situation?” he said. “Or would they prefer to transport our allocation to us, meaning we’d have to upgrade to a level one?”

Cost: too soon to tell

SO, WHAT NOW?

Raymond said he expects OWASA to seek out a deal with Cary that, ideally, will allow the agency to get water from the Raleigh suburb in emergency situations without requiring an upgrade to a level one allocation.

“The final EMC decision isn’t going to be made until summer 2013, so there is plenty of time for to think about level one versus level two,” Raymond said of the OWASA board of directors. “The idea is to explore our options.”

The town council will wait for OWASA to approach it with a proposal before adding this problem to the official agenda.