CFPUA spending $512 million to improve aging water infrastructure

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) is spending over half a billion dollars over the next 10 years to improve aging water infrastructure around the area.

CFPUA says emergencies such as the recent water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, are a reminder of the importance of sustained funding for rehabilitation and replacement of critical water infrastructure.

The group’s recently released Capital Improvement Plan includes $512 million in infrastructure investments through Fiscal Year 2032. Of those planned projects, 82 percent are focused on improvements to aging infrastructure, with another 16 percent dedicated to growth.

“Addressing aging infrastructure was one of the reasons local leaders moved to create CFPUA in 2008,” Deputy Executive Director for Treatment and Engineering Carel Vandermeyden said. “When CFPUA opened, we inherited water and sewer infrastructure from the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County that was, in some places, anywhere from 50 years to nearly a century old. In the past 14 years, we’ve made huge progress in repairing, replacing, and strengthening infrastructure throughout our service area.”

CFPUA maintains approximately $1 billion in water and sewer infrastructure across Wilmington and New Hanover County, including two water treatment plants, a network of groundwater wells, two wastewater treatment plants, over 150 sewer pump stations, and more than 1,000 miles each of water and sewer mains.

Each day, CFPUA’s systems provide water and sewer services to 200,000 people.