Before he presented Cape Fear Public Utility Authority’s 2024 Annual Report at our recent Board meeting, CFPUA Executive Director Kenneth Waldroup had one disclaimer: 

“I’m about to overuse a word,” he said. “And that word is ‘historic’.”  

“Historic” really was the word of the year for our community’s water and sewer provider. In 2024, we advanced the largest project in CFPUA history, approved our organization’s first consolidation with a neighboring utility, and invested millions of dollars to improve and grow our community’s critical infrastructure. Our achievements were noticed nationally, from leading water industry organizations to the White House, which selected Wilmington as the site for a May announcement by President Joe Biden on federal funding for water line replacements.

I invite you to read our full 2024 Annual Report at CFPUA.org/2024AnnualReport. Here are just some of the milestones it covers: 

• Southside Wastewater Treatment Plant Replacement and Expansion: The largest capital project in CFPUA’s history took shape this year, with major progress on design and preparatory work. CFPUA is preparing to replace the Southside Wastewater Treatment Plant on River Road, one of two wastewater plants we own and operate. Replacement of the plant, which opened in 1972 and has reached the end of its useful life, will also expand its treatment capacity to better serve current and future customers. 

 

• Economic Impacts of CFPUA’s Services: This year, CFPUA commissioned a first-of-its-kind study on how our services and investments impact the Wilmington region’s economy. The full report is available at this link. Among its findings: 
  • Every $1 million spent by CFPUA from 2013-2022 created an average of 10.7 jobs per year in New Hanover County. 
  • Over the same 10-year period, each $1 spent by CFPUA generated a total of $1.66 in output in the local economy as that spending rippled through various sectors.
  • A major, system-wide water outage would lead to a countywide loss in economic output of $70.4 million to $93.2 million per day, and cost each household $650 to $860 per day.

 

• Consolidation with Wrightsville Beach: CFPUA, the Town of Wrightsville Beach, and our regional government partners finalized an agreement this year to consolidate Wrightsville Beach’s water and sewer systems into CFPUA’s. In addition to providing Wrightsville Beach’s customers with access to high quality CFPUA drinking water, the consolidation includes $23.5 million in improvements to the Town’s infrastructure. Importantly, the consolidation is designed to pay for itself, with no rate impacts for CFPUA’s customers and funding for the project secured by our region’s delegation to the N.C. General Assembly. 

 

• Water Service Line Inventory: This October, CFPUA staff completed four years of work to survey all 75,000 water service lines across our system. American water utilities were required to complete these surveys under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Revised and Improved Lead and Copper Rule. As expected, our survey found zero lead service lines in CFPUA’s system, though it did identify 592 galvanized lines that will be replaced at no cost to the homeowner. CFPUA was proud to secure a total of $9.16 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding for these replacements.

 

• National Recognitions: In 2024, CFPUA continued its recent streak of honors and awards from national water industry organizations. We were honored to receive the Water Research Foundation’s 2024 Subscriber Impact Award, recognizing our contributions to research on effectively treating drinking water for PFAS. The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is the leading research organization for the water industry, and CFPUA has been a WRF member since the utility was created in 2008. This year CFPUA was also named a Utility of the Future Today by the Water Environment Federation (WEF). This program honors water sector utilities that are transforming their operations through innovation, technology, and culture change.

As always, the annual report also includes a detailed overview of CFPUA’s financial standing, information on major capital projects, and spotlights on some of our 340-plus employees. 

Looking forward, 2025 promises to be just as eventful. On the horizon are completion of the Wrightsville Beach consolidation and major projects to extend water and sewer infrastructure across northern New Hanover County. 

Follow our progress by signing up for CFPUA NewsFlash alerts at this link.