Porters Neck residents face water fee hike as CFPUA takes over

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — For the past two years, the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority has been building its customer base in Wilmington and New Hanover County. Later this week, Porters Neck residents will become part of the Utility Authority’s network, but the switch will cost residents up to 500 percent more.

The Porters Neck area in northern New Hanover County currently gets water from a private company for $1.25/thousand gallons. Starting this week the rate will increase to $4.50/thousand gallons. Many residents use water softeners and filters to treat their water. According to the CFPUA, the new system’s water will not need those additional measures.

“It won’t be until they get their bills that they realize the impact of that price increase and the fact that prices are gonna continue to go up,” said Chad O’Shields, who follows the CFPUA on his blogs http://cfpuawatchdog.blogspot.com and http://wilmingtonwater.org.

Despite the Authority holding two informative meetings about the switch many residents have mixed feelings.

“We think that it will be fine,” said Berni Walsh, who lives in Porters Neck. “We’re looking forward to turning off our water softeners, not buying bottled water, and we think it will be a good thing. We know that it’s going to cost a little bit more, but in the long run we think it will be better.”

The CFPUA assured us its water is of an exceptional quality and worth the extra money.

The new customers will need to fill out an application if they have yet to do so. The authority will mail out packets once it closes on the purchase of the system.

You can also find a link to the information at http://www.cfpua.org/index.aspx?nid=377.