Buckhorn Area Study and NCDENR watershed map

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John Dempsey

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Jun 8, 2021, 9:56:35 AM6/8/21

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Greetings Chair Price and County Commissioners.

The above is taken from the NCDENR, Division of Water Resources, Water Supply Watersheds map. The Buckhorn Area Study area B and Buckhorn Rd have been superimposed. The red area is designated WS-II NSWC (critical). The pink area indicates the State’s WS-II, NSWP (protected) designation for the streams and the aquifer feeding into Sevenmile Creek. Sevenmile Creek itself is classified as WS-II, HQW. The State’s designation for Sevenmile Creek was given in order to protect Hillsborough’s water supply. Hillsborough’s municipal water supply intake is 1,000 feet downstream from where Sevenmile Creek enters into the Eno River system.

It is worth noting that this area’s water protections, the pink areas, overlap and reinforce much of the area defined in the WASMBA services agreement for zoning that limited development in that area. The WASMBA agreement, as you know, creates a virtual rural buffer between Hillsborough and Mebane by agreeing not to extend water and sewer service into areas zoned as rural residential and agricultural, much of it below West 10 Rd.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, home to one of the top ten engineering schools in the country, got it wrong. They now have what is named the Gelman Dioxane Plume in their groundwater heading towards a pond that feeds their municipal water supply. This is in addition to the steadily rising PFAS levels from the Huron River in their drinking water. Misplaced and unregulated industrial and commercial activity in watersheds can lead to environmental costs that quickly bankrupt cities. Zoning decisions should not be based solely on the potential revenue to the County and on real estate market , Water values. The potential costs of development need to be considered as well.

The Buckhorn Area Study does not address these potential environmental costs. The Orange County Board’s own Committee for the Environment was not even given a voice in the study. There should be independent, science-based, input on the consequences of industrial and commercial development and the best use practices within these protected areas. Without such information the Orange County Board should consider the Buckhorn Area Study as incomplete, lacking the information necessary to make informed decisions.

Thank you.

John Dempsey

Hillsborough

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