First look inside H2GO’s Reverse Osmosis Plant in Belville
BELVILLE, NC (WWAY) — Thousands of people will now have access to cleaner water in Brunswick County.
After three years of construction, H2GO’s Reverse Osmosis Plant is now pumping its water into the distribution system.
The water treated at the RO plant is coming from aquifers hundreds of feet into the ground that are not contaminated with PFAS, such as GenX. Bob Walker, executive director of H2GO, says this means from the very beginning of the treatment process the water will not contain PFAS or industrial contaminants.
“Without question, you can take a drink of water and not have to worry about the PFAS contaminants. It’s about clean water at this point,” Walker said. “I mean, some people are just predisposed to getting different diseases from these PFAS contaminants that might trigger those predispositions. You don’t have to worry about that with H2GO water.”
Years in the making, H2GO Commissioner Barry Laub says it’s about more than just clean drinking water.
“You shower you’re getting clean water. You water your garden, your plants are getting clean water,” Laub said. “Your pet has a drink from the bowl, clean water!”
The treatment process will remove any sediment or sand from the wells. The water is pressurized through the RO process to extract the salt.
It’s then conditioned for alkalinity and pH levels, and disinfected before being sent out.
The pipes are currently being flushed to purge the system of the old, contaminated water. This process may cause low water pressure, strange taste, smell, or appearance.
Once the process is complete, H2GO says the water will be free of contaminants such as 1,4 Dioxane, GenX, and other perfluorinated compounds.
On June 5, H2GO will pull multiple water samples from the distribution system and send them to an outside laboratory requesting expedited test results. H2GO will test for 40 different PFAS analytes and will notify the public as soon as test results verify “non-detected” levels of the PFAS analytes in the distribution system.
