PUBLIC NOTICE
Brunswick County is providing an update on the expansion and reverse osmosis water treatment upgrades project at the Northwest Water Treatment Plant as of August 2025. Brunswick County is committed to ensuring this project is completed exactly as planned and designed.
Latest Project Update (August 2025)
- The County filed a lawsuit in July against construction contractor Oscar Renda Construction (ORC) and surety Zurich American Insurance Company and Federal Insurance Company due to their failure to complete the performance of the subject contract. Brunswick County rescinded its lawsuit on Monday, Aug. 25, but the County reserves the right to refile a lawsuit in the future.
- The surety will be on-site over the coming weeks to identify the remaining project tasks as part of the new schedule development. The surety has also hired a management group to provide additional oversight of the project.
- The project’s surety is expected to provide an updated project schedule to the County in the next few weeks, which will be shared with the community as soon as possible.
- There are still no expected changes to the original project cost of $167.3 million, and the County reserves the right to deduct liquidated damages from the project cost due to the contractor’s delays. There are no planned increases to any water rates due to the delays to this project.
The delays do not mean that all work has stopped at the project site, but rather that key project milestones have not been met and that the overall project completion date has continued to move into the future.
Brunswick County will continue to take all actions necessary to protect the best interests of our residents who have waited far too long for a solution to removing PFAS from our drinking water. Brunswick County will provide another update when the new schedule is finalized.
About the Project
Brunswick County has been concerned about the presence of PFAS in our drinking water since 2017 when news broke that the Cape Fear River had been contaminated by GenX and other per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as a result of releases from Chemours’ Fayetteville Works facility. The County immediately began seeking solutions to remove PFAS compounds from our drinking water. The reverse osmosis system being installed is considered the most effective treatment system to remove PFAS compounds from drinking water.
There are two core parts of the project: One is a major expansion effort to increase the amount of water that can be treated at the plant by an additional 12 million gallons per day (MGD) to accommodate future growth in the water system; the other part is the installation of a low-pressure reverse osmosis water treatment system to remove PFAS compounds from our drinking water. Once completed, the Northwest Water Treatment Plant will be one of the largest reverse osmosis water treatment plants in the nation with the capacity to treat more than 36 million gallons of water per day using RO.
All of Brunswick County's water customers and wholesale* municipal water customers receive either all or part of their water from the Northwest Water Treatment Plant. If your property/home receives a water bill from any of these entities, then you will benefit from the low-pressure reverse osmosis treatment system being installed at the plant: Brunswick County Utility Billing, Village of Bald Head Island, Town of Holden Beach, Town of Oak Island, Town of Ocean Isle Beach.
Brunswick County also joined other utilities in the region to sue DuPont and Chemours. The County is seeking monetary damages from Chemours to hold it responsible for the millions of dollars it is spending to install a new treatment system necessary to remove PFAS contaminants. The lawsuit remains active and ongoing.
To learn more about PFAS and how to reduce your exposure, visit the Understanding PFAS webpage on the NC Department of Environmental Quality’s website. Brunswick County also has information on its weekly PFAS testing process, opportunities for private drinking water wells to test for PFAS, and answers to frequently asked questions on our GenX/PFAS Information webpage.
Individuals can learn more about the Northwest Water Treatment Plant Expansion and Reverse Osmosis Treatment Upgrades Project at brunswickcountync.gov/nwtp.
* Within the Southport, St. James, Oak Island, and Caswell Beach areas, water from the Northwest Water Treatment is blended with water from the Highway 211 Water Treatment Plant to serve customers. St. James receives primarily groundwater from the 211 Water Treatment Plant but receives blended water between both plants during the peak times of the year or when the 211 Water Treatment Plant is being serviced. The Highway 211 Water Treatment Plant sources its water from groundwater wells. Bald Head Island has its own treatment plant, but supplementary water is supplied by the 211 Water Treatment Plant, or blended water from both county plants. All other customers in the County’s service area receive their water solely from the Northwest Water Treatment Plant.