Frequently Asked Questions

With a population nearing 160,000 residents and growing, Brunswick County is expanding its water treatment capacity and infrastructure to provide an adequate and reliable supply of water to support all of Brunswick County's residential, commercial, and industrial needs both now and in the future. More than 300,000 people are served by Brunswick County Public Utilities during the peak season (summer), including both county and wholesale customer service areas.

Brunswick County has several capital projects planned or being constructed to expand water capacity at our water treatment plants to accommodate or anticipate growth, including the expansion and reverse osmosis upgrades to the Northwest Water Treatment Plant (NWTP). The NWTP project will expand the conventional treatment facility from 24 million gallons per day (MGD) to 45 MGD and will provide a low-pressure reverse osmosis treatment capacity of 36 MGD. You can find more information about the project and its progress on our Northwest Water Treatment Plant page.

Brunswick County has also dedicated significant time and resources to updating its 20-Year Wastewater (Sewer) and Water Master Plans to continue to plan for future anticipated growth and strengthen our utilities systems. These plans, along with the 5-Year Capital Improvement Plan, which is updated annually as part of the budget process, help identify our utilities systems’ needs in relation to population growth.

Brunswick County has actively sought a solution to remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from drinking water after the discovery of PFAS substances in the Cape Fear River in June 2017. Following review of multiple treatment options, the County selected low-pressure reverse osmosis and initiated a pilot scale system at the Northwest Water Treatment Plant to confirm water quality and PFAS removal. In April 2018, CDM Smith's reported that the pilot low-pressure reverse osmosis system reduced most PFAs to undetectable levels including PFOA, PFOS, and GenX. The project to install the new treatment system is currently under construction. You can find more information about the project and its progress on our Northwest Water Treatment Plant page.

NC government agencies are also working on all fronts to continue to reduce exposure to GenX and other PFAS. This includes continuing efforts to reduce emissions and discharges from the Chemours plant and efforts to reduce GenX and other PFAS as much as possible in drinking water. The NC Department of Environmental Quality's PFAS Roadmap details NCDEQ's priorities and planned actions to reduce PFAS in our state. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Key EPA Actions to Address PFAS webpage details actions taken by EPA since January 2021.

On April 10, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the final PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The EPA’s NPDWR established legally enforceable levels, called Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs), including individual MCLs for PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, and HFPO-DA, and a PFAS mixtures MCL containing at least two or more of PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA, and PFBS.

• Final MCL for PFOA = 4.0 parts per trillion (ppt)
• Final MCL for PFOS = 4.0 ppt
• Final MCL for PFNA = 10 ppt
• Final MCL for PFHxS = 10 ppt
• Final MCL for HFPO-DA (GenX chemicals) = 10 ppt
• Hazard Index (HI) for mixture of two or more of PFNA, PFHxS, HFPO-DA, and PFBS = 1 HI

On June 15, 2022, the EPA published final drinking water health advisories (HAs) for perfluorobutane sulfonic acid and its potassium salt (together referred to as PFBS) and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA) and its ammonium salt (together referred to as GenX Chemicals).

• Final Health Advisory for GenX chemicals (HFPO-DA) = 10 ppt
• Final Health Advisory for PFBS = 2,000 ppt

Brunswick County Public Utilities conducts routine water tests of our raw and treated water from the Northwest Water Treatment Plant for several PFAS compounds, including the six with NPDWRs and the two with HAs. All water test results are published on the County's website.

Based on the NPDWRs implemented in April 2024, water systems must take action to reduce the levels of these PFAS in drinking water if the levels exceed MCLs. Public water systems have 5 years to meet this new requirement.

In 2017, Brunswick County 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. Any proceeds received will be used for the benefit of all customer classes. How any proceeds from litigation would be used has not been analyzed nor determined at this time.

Brunswick County is absorbing some of the costs for the Northwest Water Treatment Plant infrastructure enhancements—therefore, all the project costs are not directly passed on through water rates. However, the County had to start making anticipated debt service repayments in 2022 for the installation of the reverse osmosis treatment system to remove unregulated PFAS contaminants like GenX chemicals from our water and to construct a new raw water line to increase capacity to the plant.

Yes. Developers pay System Development Fees (SDF), which are one-time fees for new permitted developments joining either or both of the County’s utilities systems. These fees help cover the costs associated with increasing Brunswick County’s treatment and transmission system capacity to accommodate the projected growth and additional demands on the system. Additionally, developers are responsible for installing the water distribution piping and sewer collections systems to serve their development projects.

The Brunswick County Board of Commissioners recently approved an increase to the County’s water and wastewater system development fees as part of the current Fiscal Year 2025 budget. The Board approved an increase to 90% of the maximum impact for these fees incrementally by July 2025 as identified in the most recent SDF analysis report. These fee changes will support the systems’ needs attributed to population growth as outlined and supported in the 20-year Water and Wastewater Master Plans and the 5-Year Capital Improvement Plan.

The average retail county water customer with a 3/4-inch meter uses 4,500 gallons of water per month. Under the current rate structure, the estimated bill is $34.68 for someone using 4,500 gallons (or $36.75 for 5,000 gallons). This does not include irrigation. This is well below the average bill of other North Carolina coastal communities of $41.04 (4,500 gallons) and the NC state median of $38.45 (5,000 gallons).

View the County's latest water and sewer rate schedule.

Community members can find the latest information and project status on the Northwest Water Treatment Plant Expansion and Reverse Osmosis Treatment Upgrades project webpage.