WILMINGTON — Seven months have passed since word broke that the Cape Fear River hosted the relatively unknown, potentially toxic compound GenX.
Since then, the reaction from public utilities has been varied, with Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) spending nearly $1 million to date to address the issue.
CFPUA is contractually obligated to pay a total of $1.77 million in its many arrangements with scientists, educational partners and attorneys. Of those obligations, CFPUA has paid $843,115 to date The utility will also receive $185,000 in state funds, appropriate by House Bill 56.
The rest of the money will come CFPUA’s general fund, the utility’s financial reserve. Like most government entities, CFPUA stores money in its general fund when it takes in more money from ratepayers than it spends on operations. General funds pay for many long-term projects as well as so-called “rainy day events,” like responding to the discovery of GenX.
Most public entities maintain a general fund, or a reserve of money to save for a rainy day. General funds ultimately originate from ratepayer dollars.
“At the end of the day, it is ratepayers funds that it would be coming from,” said Peg Hall-Williams, public information officer for CFPUA.
When that rainy day came in June, CFPUA chose to dig into its general fund to begin addressing the growing public concern and outcry for answers.
Here’s what the ratepayer dollars have been used for since June:
- Private lab testing for GenX and other compounds
- Pilot testing researching alternative water treatment options including granular activated carbon.
- A partnership with UNCW to identify other unregulated compounds
- Environmental engineering services
- Legal action against Chemours
Funds from the fallout
According to Hall-Williams, the utility has been trying to figure out the best approach to what local leaders, including Commissioner Woody White, Mayor Bill Saffo, State Representative Deb Butler, and State Senator Michael Lee, have all called a public health crisis.
“It’s just trying to figure out what works best in your community,” Hall-Williams said.
Hall-Williams said the utility’s financial expenditures are on par with public demand.
“I just think that this is kind of the approach we’ve taken because we want to make sure were listening to our customers and working alongside with them,” Hall-Williams said. “We feel almost like were having to walk this with them.”
The lingering uncertainty and lack of a consensus over the impact GenX will have on CFPUA’s customers to loom over the utility.
Williams says CFPUA is hoping that it will obtain some financial relief when its legal battle with Chemours reaches a close, but that outcome is yet another uncertainty for the utility.
Ligitation against Chemours could take years, and here is no guarantee that CFPUA will be compensated in the end. Hall-Williams said the utility is taking the legal battle, like many things, on a day-to-day basis.
“We’re all in a learning stance together,” Williams said. “At the end, we are trying to close with that, with what’s in the river?”
Johanna Ferebee can be reached at [email protected] or @j__ferebee on Twitter.
