WILMINGTON — Gov. Josh Stein and North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Reid Wilson visited Cape Fear Public Utility Authority’s Sweeney Water Treatment Plant in Wilmington today to announce $17 million in grants targeted at protecting families from forever chemicals like PFAS and GenX in their drinking water.
The funds will be used to extend waterlines to connect more than 300 homes with contaminated wells to CFPUA’s supply of safe drinking water.
This funding follows the governor’s recent announcement of more than $472 million for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects across 66 counties. As part of that investment, the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority received $17.8 million to support replacement and capacity upgrade of the Southside Water Reclamation Facility.
“When families turn on the tap, they deserve to know that their water is clean and safe,” Gov. Stein said in a press release. “This $17 million investment in Wilmington will protect more than 300 families from forever chemicals by connecting their homes to the public water supply. We’ve made historic commitments to upgrade water infrastructure across North Carolina because keeping North Carolinians healthy starts with reliable, resilient water systems.”
Dane Scalise, vice chair of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners and CFPUA board member, said clean drinking water is among the “most fundamental services government provides.”
“This funding helps connect families in New Hanover County to the safe water they deserve, and we’re grateful for the State’s continued partnership in that effort,” Scalise said in the release.
“Since CFPUA brought new filters online at our Sweeney Plant in 2022, we have been able to effectively remove GenX and other PFAS from our public drinking water,” CFPUA board Chairman Wesley P. Corder said in the release. “We are very grateful for this support from Governor Stein’s Office and the Department of Environmental Quality, which will enable us to connect more families in our community to CFPUA’s clean, clearly better water.”
The Cape Fear Public Utility Authority will receive the $17 million through the Department of Environmental Quality’s Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities program, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In portions of New Hanover County served by these waterline extension projects, more than 75 percent of sampled wells exceeded health-based drinking water standards for certain PFAS compounds.
The $472 million statewide investment through NCDEQ is designed to help cities, towns and counties strengthen infrastructure to better withstand future storms, improve existing drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, reduce contamination by forever chemicals, and identify and replace lead pipes. The recent $17.8 million funding to the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority brings DEQ’s total support for the Southside Replacement Project to $192.8 million.
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