CFPUA Board approves bulk water sale proposal for Town of Wrightsville Beach

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — If the Town of Wrightsville Beach wants to continue to buy water from the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, it will do so under the current bulk water rate, as opposed to the largely reduced rate the town was receiving.

Wednesday morning, the CFPUA Board approved a proposal to sell Wrightsville Beach as much as 150 million gallons per year of treated drinking water at CFPUA’s current bulk water rate of $3.48 per 1,000 gallons, for five years.

The Board’s approval came after the town made inquiries earlier this year about purchasing water from CFPUA to supplement the town’s drinking water supply. If approved by the town, the contract would begin in April.

Under an earlier agreement between CFPUA and the town, which was signed in April of 2019, CFPUA provided as much as 45 million gallons of water per year at a short-term, mutual aid rate of $0.65 per 1,000 gallons.

This temporary rate was calculated to cover the incremental costs to produce the drinking water. The 2019 contract expires April 18.

CFPUA Executive Director Kenneth Waldroup said while the option for consolidation of Wrightsville Beach’s water system into CFPUA’s system should be evaluated, such an undertaking will be very complex, costly and likely take many months to complete, if both parties agree it is in their customers’ best interests.