CFPUA chairman’s July 31 daily update

Mike Brown, CFPUA Board chairman, will provide a once daily update with information on activity surrounding GenX. Updates will be provided each weekday. Below please find Chairman Mike Brown’s daily update on daily updates beginning this week, a partnership with the City of Wilmington and area churches to provide free water to citizens unable to get to the free water station, and pilot testing of GAC at the Sweeney Water Plant.

1. Beginning today, CFPUA will begin providing updates once a day. Updates will be sent by 3pm daily, and additional updates will be provided as necessary.
2. Beginning today, CFPUA is partnering with the City of Wilmington and area churches to provide free water from Ogden Park to citizens unable to get to the free water station. A CFPUA staff member will be on site at Ogden Park beginning at 11:00 am today to assist.

Churches will transport empty containers to Ogden Park where they will be filled with treated groundwater at no cost. Church volunteers will then bring the filled containers back to the designated churches, where customers can pick them up. Churches will be open for drop off between 9:00 am and 11:00 am every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and for pick up between 1:00 pm and 3:00 p.m. on the same days.

Three churches in the greater downtown area will be offering drop-off and pick-up services:

• Warner Temple AME Zion Church, 620 Nixon St., (910) 763-6308
• Phillip AME Church, 815 N. 8^th St., (910) 762-3573
• Ephesus SDA Church, 1002 Castle St., (910) 762-7755

For citizens interested in participating, please find instructions below:

1. Drop off empty containers at one of the participating churches between 9:00 am and 11:00 am Monday, Wednesday and/or Friday beginning Monday, July 31.
2. Containers should be clean, have caps, be marked with the person’s name and number, and be between one and five gallons in size.
3. Containers should not have previously been used for chemicals, such as cleaning fluids or other liquids not suitable for consumption. They should also be non-breakable.
4. Pick up filled containers between 1:00 pm and 3:00 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and/or Friday beginning Monday, July 31.

3.  Construction of testing equipment for the pilot testing of GAC (granular activated carbon) at the Sweeney Water Plant has been completed. Staff will begin testing today. These tests are designed to give CFPUA an idea of how effective this treatment option is in the removal of GenX and other per-fluorinated compounds.

GAC adsorption is a water treatment process that uses a granular media produced from carbon-based materials such as coal, coconut shells, peat, or wood that have been “activated” by heat and sometimes other manufacturing steps to yield the desired properties. There are many types of GAC media, and selection of an effective carbon for a given situation is frequently based on site-specific testing.

GAC is implemented in water treatment in one of two roles: as a filter-absorber, providing both filtration and adsorption functions or, as a post-filter contactor in which adsorption is the primary treatment objective. As the adsorptive capacity of the GAC becomes exhausted, microbial growth on the GAC can be used to convert some of the chemicals in the water to cell mass. This is referred to as biofiltration. The GAC filters at the Sweeney plant operate as biofilters.
We will continue to provide updates as we learn more about the viability of this testing option.

1. Late Wednesday afternoon, CFPUA received updated water sampling data from Eurofins for our Sweeney Water Plant. The most recent data shows levels of GenX below the NC DHHS health advisory goal of 140 ppt.

CFPUA remains committed to providing the highest quality drinking water for our customers. We will continue to prioritize communication and transparency as we seek additional information.

To view the full test results, click here.

5. For CFPUA customers who prefer water from an alternate source, CFPUA is offering free water from a ground source. This water is treated at CFPUA’s nanofiltration plant. On July 13, CFPUA sampled water at this Richardson Nanofiltration Plant—which serves the free water station at Ogden Park—for GenX and it was not detected. This water is supplied by aquifers that have not been affected by Chemours’ discharge of GenX.
Residential CFPUA customers may fill their clean personal containers at New Hanover County’s Ogden Park near the tennis courts at 615 Ogden Park Drive. This is available daily from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. CFPUA will continue to offer this service until we confirm a trend line that is at or below the health advisory goal set by NC DHHS.

6. CFPUA encourages the public to check our website and social media channels for updates as this continues to unfold. We are committed to transparency, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with you through the duration of this process.