Defending the Orange Water and Sewer Authority's (OWASA) approach to the project

Herzenberg warns the interviewer not to assume that the Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) did not anticipate objections to the planned Cane Creek reservoir. OWASA was focused on meeting the water needs of Chapel Hill residents, he said, who have already sacrificed some political heft by giving disproportionately large representation to smaller areas on the OWASA board. Herzenberg does concede that Cane Creek residents will not be given access to the water once OWASA starts pumping it into Chapel Hill. The passage illustrates, if slightly unclearly, some of the political shadows behind the reservoir.