Storyline · 1974–1981
In 1974 Chapel Hill chose to enlarge its Mason Farm sewage plant rather than join Durham's system. The overloaded plant forced a halt to building permits in 1976. OWASA received an EPA planning grant in 1978, and after a second federal review the EPA approved raising the plant's capacity from 5.5 to 8 million gallons a day in November 1979. In 1981 OWASA won nearly $10 million in federal and state aid, got a town permit and let contracts for the work, and the state held up sewer extensions until the plant was finished.
On November 9, 1974 the Chapel Hill aldermen chose, from three engineers' plans, to enlarge the Mason Farm treatment plant, which received all of Chapel Hill's and Carrboro's treated sewage, to meet federal Environmental Protection Agency standards for Morgan Creek, rather than join Durham's Farrington Road plant; the town expected a federal grant for 85 percent of the cost and completion in 1978. In June 1976 the state Division of Environmental Management barred all building but single-family houses from tapping the town's sewer lines, and on August 16, with the plant overloaded and breaking down, the aldermen halted all building permits until September 27, limiting construction, University buildings among it, to projects permitted before July 16. By July 1978 the EPA had awarded the Orange Water and Sewer Authority $344,025 to prepare plans for enlarging the plant from 5.5 to 8 million gallons a day. In October 1979 the OWASA board learned that a new EPA review office wanted the need for the addition documented again, though the Atlanta regional office had certified the plans and OWASA had paid $350,000 for design, while developers blamed the area's strict sewer allocations for holding back apartments. On November 14 OWASA learned that the EPA had approved the expansion, about $10 million with 75 percent federal funding, to be finished by 1982; Planning Director Mike Jennings said it would let more building use town sewer lines instead of septic tanks.
By February 1981 OWASA had received almost $10 million, 75 percent from the Environmental Protection Agency and 12.5 percent from the state, toward a project of more than $11 million to rebuild the plant, raising its capacity from 5.5 to 8 million gallons a day, and to rehabilitate sewers; the work included a new administration building and a dike against Morgan Creek floods. OWASA officials had learned only weeks before that the work needed a town permit, and on April 13 the Chapel Hill Town Council approved a zoning text amendment allowing wastewater treatment plants as a special use in industrial districts and a special use permit for the expansion, on a tract of about 23 acres beside Finley Golf Course. On April 15 the OWASA board unanimously awarded four contracts: about $8 million for general construction to Dickerson Inc., $600,000 for electrical work to Bryant Durham Electric Co., $82,000 for a wastewater interceptor to Wrenn-Wilson Construction Co. and $98,000 for heating, air conditioning and plumbing to Condor Mechanical Contractors, about 12 percent under the consultants' estimate. By September the state had written OWASA restricting extensions of the sewer system until the new plant, due by July 1, 1983, was finished; OWASA chairman David Moreau said it contradicted the existing agreement. On September 17 the OWASA board approved a 13 percent water and sewer rate increase from January 1, 1982, part of a plan to cover $26 million in capital work over four years, chiefly the Cane Creek reservoir and the rebuilt treatment plant.
Every statement above comes from these dated entries in the chronology. Each links to its source.
No indexed work is about this storyline itself yet. These are the most widely held histories of the theme it is filed under, so they may not discuss it. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.
Elisha Mitchell, the University of North Carolina professor for whom Mount Mitchell is named, as botanist and as observer of early Chapel Hill, in a study by Rogers McVaugh, Michael R. McVaugh and Mary Ayers. It covers Mitchell's botanical knowledge, the plants of Chapel Hill and the town's historical geography. Published by the Botanical Garden Foundation in Chapel Hill in 1996, 122 pages with illustrations and maps.
Architectural and historical inventory of Carrboro by Claudia Roberts Brown, published in 1983 by the Carrboro Appearance Commission and the town. The 48-page survey, with illustrations and maps, documents the town's historic buildings and their conservation.
Collected first-hand and second-hand stories from the Eno River valley as told from the standpoint of African Americans and Native people who have lived along the river in Orange and Durham counties, from prehistory to the present day. Issued by the Eno River Association in Durham as volume 10, number 2 of the Eno Journal, 2021, 106 pages with illustrations.
Emily Eidenier Pearce's history of Rogers Road, the historically African American neighborhood on the edge of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and of what happened to it after Orange County opened its landfill next door in 1972. Drawing on interviews with residents, the book records the neighborhood's origins, family life, churches and customs, and then the environmental and social burdens of decades beside the landfill. Privately issued in 2009, 298 pages with illustrations, maps and portraits.
David Cook collects the grim side of the Eno River's past in Orange and Durham counties: ghost stories, crimes, train wrecks and accidents, including the hanging of rebels near the river in 1771, a sawmill accident said to have started a run of hauntings, and a dance one Valentine's Day that ended badly. Published by The History Press in 2025, 141 pages with illustrations.
Stewart E. Dunaway's history of the two mills George Johnston built on New Hope Creek in Orange County, the first in 1793 and the second in 1820, the earlier of which he sold to the Englishman William Robson. Self-published in 2010, 256 pages with illustrations, maps and facsimiles. Topics include gristmills in Orange County and the Blackwood, Johnston, Robinson and Robson families, so the volume serves both mill history and genealogy.
Address by Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire at St. Matthew's Church in Hillsborough on 24 August 1924, marking the parish's hundredth anniversary. Printed in Durham in 1925 at the vestry's order, with a foreword by the rector. Cheshire discusses George Micklejohn, William Mercer Green and Moses Ashley Curtis.
Stewart E. Dunaway's 2010 study of Patterson Mill, a gristmill site on New Hope Creek where Orange County meets Chatham County. The book pairs a short genealogy of the Patterson family with a close survey of what remains of the mill on land now inside Duke Forest, supported by maps, facsimile documents and illustrations across 176 pages. Self-published in a second issue dated October 10, 2010.
Departmental history of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill covering its first fifty years, published by the department in 2000. The history covers medical schools, medical education and the teaching of obstetrics in North Carolina. First edition, xvii and 366 pages with illustrations and portraits.
Albert N. Link's early history of Research Triangle Park, published in 1995 by the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina. Topics include research parks, research institutes and industrial research in the state, with the park's own history at the center. 149 pages with illustrations and maps.
Michael McIntyre's 23-minute documentary video on the Eno River and Eno River State Park, produced in Durham in 1993 with support from the Duke University Institute of the Arts. It covers the river's past, its geology and the effort to preserve it, including the Indigenous peoples of the Eno River region. The container credits it with the 1993 Hal Kammerer Film and Video Award at Duke. VHS videocassette, color with sound.
Mary Claire Engstrom's history of the Quaker settlers of the Eno River valley from about 1750 to 1847, in the country that is now Orange and Durham counties. Published by the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley in Durham in 1989, 73 pages with illustrations, maps and portraits.
Each dated event above names its source, the place to start. For finding more on an event across newspapers, records and histories, see the research guide Follow an event across several accounts. Ask at the North Carolina Room of the Orange County Public Library for help with local sources.
Friends of the Orange County Public Library. “Expanding the Mason Farm sewage plant, 1974–1981.” Orange County Indexed, https://focplnc.org/orange-county-books/storylines/mason-farm-expansion-storyline-1974/. Accessed October 22, 2026.
