BRUNSWICK COUNTY — Community advocates expressed disappointment after county staff decided not to apply for this season’s state water infrastructure grants ahead of a coming deadline. Meanwhile, commissioners approved a resolution signifying commitment to clean water.
READ MORE: Human rights organization urges Brunswick County to prioritize residents’ clean water access
ALSO: Brunswick RO plant completion date delayed another 6 months after fifth contract amendment
Last month, international human rights organization EarthRights joined Brunswick County residents in urging commissioners to apply for state water grants. The money would be used to provide residents using private wells with connections to public utilities.This comes two years after EarthRights worked with Brunswick NAACP President Carl Parker Jr. to organize a petition of hundreds of residents on the same issue.
EarthRights attorney Alexis Yeboah-Kodie reiterated the request at last week’s commissioner meeting. EarthRights urged the county to take action ahead of the April 30 application deadline for the Department of Environmental Quality’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) and the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) grants.
“We recently met with the County to share concerns about this situation, emphasizing that residents of Brunswick County are currently choosing between buying their medicine or bottled water because their well water is polluted,” EarthRights campaign officer Audrey Schreiber wrote in an email to Port City Daily. “We also met with the County to discuss opportunities to resolve these concerns including the upcoming grants available through the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.”
Brunswick County spokesperson Meagan Kascak said the county will not meet the April 30 deadline. The county is working with consultants Ward & Smith and The Ferguson Group to identify water solutions for underserved communities and plans to apply for numerous other grant opportunities in the calendar year.
“We would also note that the County has repeatedly asked for and reiterated during our meeting with the Brunswick NAACP and Earthrights representatives that it would be helpful to have a list of the specific streets and specific addresses so we can make sure we understand exactly where they are requesting water lines be installed,” Kascak wrote. “We still have not received this list of specific streets or addresses but encourage them to share this information with us as soon as possible. This will assist with identifying potential grant opportunities that would meet any intended goals.”
Schreiber said EarthRights was “dismayed” to learn the county will not apply. She said the group provided specific locations to the county two years ago and noted multiple residents provided addresses during public comment.
EarthRights is saying the county is the one withholding information; it requested the county provide a map of its water lines to better identify disconnected areas, but staff determined the information needed would remain private for national security reasons.
Schreiber said while EarthRights is happy to keep working with the county on the issue, the county should investigate areas of need on its own accord as well “and use their records and data on water service access to create a plan for extending new water lines and reducing hook up costs.”
Brunswick County has multiple active DEQ grants currently, including $14.9 million for the Longwood Road Sewer Project.
However, county staff repeatedly cited the Department of Commerce’s designation of Brunswick County as a tier 3 county an impediment to applying for specific grants requested by Brunswick NAACP and EarthRights. The classification pins Brunswick as one of the 20 least economically distressed counties in the state, reducing competitiveness for applications.
Schreiber said residents have been requesting water lines to be hooked up to underserved neighborhoods for two decades now.
“The County’s delays to resolving this longstanding issue highlights where the County has historically allocated its resources–not to the communities that continue to ask them for access to water,” she said.
Chair Mike Forte similarly told Port City Daily staff applies for grants on a weekly basis but applications are usually rejected due to its tier 3 status.
“Staff is perpetually applying for anything that we think we are eligible for,” Forte said. “Most of these grants are very specific, and if we think we have any kind of opening, we apply for them.”
PCD reached out to the Department of Environmental Quality to ask for a list of Brunswick County’s rejected grant applications but did not receive a response by press.
Drinking Water Week
During last Monday’s meeting, commissioners approved a resolution to formally recognize Drinking Water Week from May 4 through 10; the resolution states it signifies the county’s desire to provide and promote safe drinking water.
The annual event is sponsored by the American Water Works Association, a national trade association representing thousands of water utilities, consultants and engineers.
Brunswick County Public Utilities has been awarded the N.C. American Water Works Association Large Distributing System of the Year Award six times, including its latest recognition in 2024.
“For water systems in the United States, this year’s resolution also coincides with a historic milestone in the 50th anniversary of the Safe Drinking Water Act,” the county wrote in a press release. “Brunswick County Public Utilities are proud to continue the promotion and observance of the annual event and support AWWA’s effort to spread awareness about the importance of safe, clean, drinking water.”
The American Water Works Association sued the EPA last year to challenge the agency’s first-time maximum contaminant levels for PFAS under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The rule requires public water utilities to complete a five-year compliance schedule to achieve legally enforceable concentration levels for six PFAS compounds by 2029. Clean Cape Fear is serving as an intervenor in the case to support EPA’s position.
“Actions always speak louder than words,” Clean Cape Fear co-founder Emily Donovan told Port City Daily. “We’re disappointed Brunswick County Commissioners continue to support an organization actively working to strip us from the first ever PFAS drinking water standards.”
An AWWA spokesperson shared an information page outlining their position in the case. The organization maintains it shares EPA’s goal of protecting public health, but believes the PFAS rules underestimates total costs, questions whether it was implemented in adherence with statutory requirements, and is concerned EPA did not rely on the best available PFAS science.
Water utility trade groups have long been an influential force in the EPA’s Office of Water; America Water Works Association executive director Tracy Mehan led the department for several years during the George W. Bush administration. The AWWA pushed to weaken the Safe Drinking Water Act, lobbied last year to kill a proposed rule that would have prevented water systems from making “false or misleading” statements about their water and compliance with federal standards, and is suing to roll back lead protection rules.
The AWWA is suing the EPA over its proposed PFAS rules alongside the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, Chemours, the American Chemistry Council, and the National Association of Manufacturers.
The EPA’s limitations on chemical amounts include:
- PFOA 4.0 parts per trillion (ppt)
- PFOS 4.0 ppt
- GenX 10 ppt
- PFNA 10 ppt
- PFHxS 10 ppt
- Mixtures of GenX, PFNA, PFHxS, and PFBS meeting a hazard standard index of 1
An Environmental Working Group study in June listed Brunswick County Public Utilities among the top five largest utilities in North Carolina with PFAS levels above federal standards. This came four years after a separate EWG study found Brunswick to have the highest PFAS levels of 44 metropolitan areas tested throughout the country.
The Northwest Water Treatment Plant’s most recent November results show several PFAS compounds above maximum contaminant levels, including PFOS at 9.96 ppt and PFOA at 5.09 ppt.
The county has faced repeated delays in its efforts to install a low-pressure reverse osmosis system to address PFAS contamination since it first entered a $599,600 contract with project designer CDM Smith in 2018 to explore PFAS solutions.
CDM Smith is the project manager on the Northwest Water Treatment Plant’s low-pressure reverse osmosis system. It is also a platinum sponsor of the American Water Works Association’s North Carolina chapter. CDM Smith is also a sponsor of the national association and represented on its board of directors.
Commissioners approved a fifth budget amendment for the Northwest Water Treatment Plant’s roughly $168-million expansion and low-pressure reverse-osmosis system in December. The fifth contract amendment allocated an additional $1 million to CDM Smith, putting the contracted project manager’s total payment at $25.5 million, and pushed the completion date to June 2025.
Chair Forte expressed doubts the reverse osmosis system will come online in June from recent conversations with staff and contractors.
“We had traditionally filtered water,” Forte said. “That’s where we started. But the whole process of getting low-pressure reverse osmosis — that we’re spending $176 million dollars on — you’re telling me after four years I’m going to have traditionally filtered water?”
Port City Daily reached out to CDM Smith and Southland Holdings — the parent company of construction contractor Oscar Renda Contracting — to ask about the status of the project. A response was not received by press.
“I’m more and more frustrated this RO is more than two years past due and they keep sending us requests for more money,” Forte said. “No, you get where you’re supposed to be on this contract and you’ll get more money. Enough is enough. This is ridiculous.”
Tips or comments? Email journalist Peter Castagno at peter@localdailymedia.com.
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