WILMINGTON — City officials and the local water authority are asking locals to tell the state “no” when it comes to one North Carolina town’s request to purchase water daily from the Cape Fear River to help supply the needs of its rapidly growing municipality.
The Fuquay-Varina Interbasin Transfer would permanently remove 6.17 million gallons of water daily from the Cape Fear River. The town is one of the fastest growing in the state — by 90% in the last decade — and has contracts with other towns to supply its water. However, its anticipated to max out by 2030, with shortfall projections estimated at nearly 2 million gallons per day in four years.
READ MORE: ‘Borrow and return’: CFPUA warns Fuquay-Varina water plan threatens Cape Fear River
Instead, the town wants to begin sourcing its supply from the Tri-Rivers Water Treatment Plant in Sanford, meaning Fuquay-Varina would stop buying water from neighbors and instead take its water from the Cape Fear River to put into the Neuse River. The plan is set to cost the town $120 million but is covered by state grants and a 20% water and sewer rate increase that passed in 2023.
Cape Fear Public Utility Authority posted a video Wednesday of Mayor Bill Saffo stating the City of Wilmington and CFPUA vehemently oppose Fuquay-Varina’s Interbasin Transfer request.
“The Cape Fear River right behind me is the primary source of drinking water for more than a half a million people in our region, including more than 200,000 people in Wilmington and New Hanover County,” Saffo said in the video. “Today, this vital resource is under threat from growing, water-hungry communities upstream.”
More so he asked residents to make their voices known now — “for your family and future generations.”
The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission must agree for the request to proceed but is accepting comments on Fuquay-Varina’s application until April 1, 2026. The form can be filled out here by the public.
Already, municipalities in the Cape Fear have begun opposing the transfer request through resolutions, including the City of Wilmington, Southport, the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners, Pender County Board of Commissioners, Brunswick County Board of Commissioners, Holden Beach, Sunset Beach, Carolina Shores, Oak Island and Wrightsville Beach.
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