WILMINGTON — It’s been 10-years since New Hanover County and the City of Wilmington decided to combine their utility services to create the sole utility provider for much of New Hanover County, the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority — and according to CFPUA Executive Director Jim Flechtner, there is much of which to be proud.
On Monday, Flechtner presented the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners with CFPUA’s annual report highlighting accomplishments and challenges the utility provider faced last year.
“Last year was another good year for CFPUA, we accomplished a lot and there is a lot to be proud of. We also celebrated our 10-year anniversary,” Flechtner said.
A lot has changed since the initial creation of the authority, for one, in 2008 drinking water quality was not the issue that it has become today. In fact, CFPUA initially focused on wastewater treatment and sanitary sewer overflows, he said.
CFPUA has also partnered with Coastal Enterprises, an organization that helps people with disabilities to provide job training and rehabilitation.
“We contracted with them to paint about 300 fire hydrants in our service area, mostly on residential streets where we are concerned with aesthetics … We were able to provide job training and opportunities to [these] people,” Flechtner said.
In 2018, the utility provider brought in almost $80 million in revenue with the bulk of the income coming from water rates and wastewater revenues.
Clean drinking water
For the past year-and-a-half, the topic that has dominated conversations about CFPUA and the water supply in New Hanover County and the region as a whole has been emerging contaminants and clean drinking water.
“As we have seen for the last year and a half, somebody else’s industrial wastewater, polluted groundwater, and contaminated rainwater a couple days later becomes our drinking water,” Flechtner said.
After the realization of GenX and other compounds were in the drinking water, CFPUA and other governmental agencies have taken legal action against Chemours and DuPont to help pay for their actions.
“We don’t believe the expenses associated with this should be borne with our ratepayers,” Flechtner said.
Related: Are CFPUA ratepayers willing to pay $215 million for Sweeney upgrades?
But planned upgrades to the Sweeney Water Treatment Plant are already in the works and it could be ratepayers footing the bill — even if CFPUA recovers the cost to improve the plant from litigation.
Ultimately, removing Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is the goal for CFPUA in the future, Flechtner said.
