Editor’s note: Local legislative delegation members Sens. Michael Lee and Bill Rabon were among a group of six bipartisan state senators who recently wrote this open letter to J.D. Solomon, chairman of the N.C. Environmental Management Commission. 

We write jointly as North Carolina state Senators whose districts collectively represent the communities of Southeastern North Carolina that depend on the Cape Fear River Basin for their drinking water, economic livelihood and quality of life. We submit these comments in firm opposition to the town of Fuquay-Varina’s request for an Interbasin Transfer (IBT) Certificate to withdraw 6.17 million gallons per day (MGD) from the Cape Fear River Basin and permanently discharge treated wastewater into the Neuse River Basin. 

Our districts encompass Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Cumberland, Duplin, Hoke, Jones, Moore, New Hanover, Pender, and Sampson counties – communities that are home to hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians who rely on the Cape Fear River as their primary source of drinking water. This proposed transfer, if approved as submitted, would inflict lasting harm on the water supply, water quality, ecological health and economic prospects of the people we represent. We respectfully urge the Environmental Management Commission (Commission) to deny the IBT Certificate as currently proposed. 

I. The Proposed Transfer Threatens Drinking Water Reliability for Nearly One Million North Carolinians 

The Cape Fear River Basin serves as the primary source of drinking water for more than 500,000 residents in the Lower Cape Fear region, from Fayetteville and Cumberland County through Wilmington and New Hanover County, and extending into Brunswick, Pender and Bladen counties. When upstream users in Lee and Harnett counties are included, the basin serves the water needs of nearly 1 million people. The permanent removal of 6.17 MGD – a volume sufficient to supply treated drinking water to more than 27,000 homes – without any return to the source basin represents a fundamental threat to the long-term water security of these communities. 

This concern is not hypothetical. The Cape Fear River’s flow is finite, and low-flow drought conditions have become more frequent, more persistent, and more severe in recent years. As recently as 2019, water providers in our region were compelled to impose mandatory water restrictions. The Fayetteville Public Works Commission (PWC) has stated that approval of this IBT could force it to implement Drought Level One conservation measures immediately upon the transfer’s commencement – even absent drought conditions in its service area. PWC further noted that it supplies up to 8 million gallons per day to Fort Bragg, one of the largest military installations in the United States, and that reduced river flow could jeopardize its ability to serve this critical national defense facility. 

II. Reduced River Flow Will Degrade Water Quality and Increase Treatment Costs 

Lower flow in the Cape Fear River means reduced dilution of pollutants and contaminants. Our region has already confronted significant water quality challenges, including the well-documented contamination of the river by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other industrial discharges. Environmental experts, including the Cape Fear Riverkeeper, have warned that the proposed transfer would lead to increased algal blooms and higher concentrations of pollutants, particularly during summer months when flows are naturally at their lowest. 

Downstream water utilities would bear the cost of addressing degraded source water quality. The Fayetteville PWC has estimated that affected communities would need to invest millions of dollars in additional water and wastewater treatment infrastructure to compensate for reduced dilution capacity. These costs would ultimately be borne by ratepayers in our districts – residents and businesses that had no role in creating the water supply deficit that Fuquay-Varina seeks to address at their expense. 

III. Fuquay-Varina Already Returns Water to the Cape Fear Basin — The Infrastructure Exists 

A critical fact that has received insufficient attention in this proceeding is that the Town of Fuquay-Varina is not a stranger to the Cape Fear River Basin’s wastewater infrastructure. The Town already returns a portion of its wastewater to the Cape Fear River Basin. The Town’s Terrible Creek and Brighton Forest wastewater treatment plants discharge to the Neuse River Basin, but the Town also sends wastewater to the North Harnett Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant, which discharges treated effluent directly into the Cape Fear River. This is not a theoretical pathway – it is an existing, operational arrangement. 

Indeed, the town has recently deepened its investment in this Cape Fear Basin discharge capacity. In 2023, Fuquay-Varina purchased 3.4 million gallons per day of capacity in the North Harnett Regional WWTP’s 9 MGD expansion project, bringing the town’s total allocated capacity at that facility to 6 MGD. The expansion is currently under construction. This means the town will soon have substantial wastewater treatment capacity that discharges directly to the Cape Fear River – the very basin from which it proposes to withdraw 6.17 MGD. 

The existence of this infrastructure fundamentally undermines the town’s claim that returning water to Cape Fear is impractical or prohibitively expensive. The town’s own draft EIS estimates that a full return-to-basin alternative would cost approximately $200 million more than its preferred alternative. Given that the town is already a partner in the Harnett County plant and that the Cary-Apex IBT settlement of 2018 established return-to-basin as the accepted standard for Cape Fear River withdrawals, the additional cost of routing wastewater to an existing Cape Fear Basin facility is both reasonable and proportionate to the harm the preferred alternative would inflict on downstream communities. 

IV. The Draft EIS Fails to Adequately Evaluate Reasonable Alternatives 

N.C. General Statute § 143-215.22L(d) requires the Commission to consider the availability of reasonable alternatives before granting an IBT Certificate. The draft EIS does not satisfy this requirement. The town selected its preferred alternative primarily because it represents the least costly option for the town’s ratepayers. However, cost to the applicant cannot be the sole or predominant criterion when the consequences of the preferred alternative fall so heavily on downstream communities that have no voice in the town’s planning decisions. 

Specifically, the draft EIS does not adequately analyze or give proper weight to the following alternatives: 

• Maximizing return flow through existing Cape Fear Basin infrastructure. As noted above, the town already has up to 6 MGD of wastewater capacity at the North Harnett Regional WWTP, which discharges to the Cape Fear River. The draft EIS does not adequately evaluate the alternative of routing all or substantially all of the town’s wastewater through this facility – or expanding it further – to return water to the source basin. This alternative would use infrastructure the town has already committed to building and would be consistent with the Cary-Apex precedent. 
• Expanded partnerships with existing Neuse River Basin suppliers. The Town currently purchases wholesale water from the city of Raleigh, Harnett County, and Johnston County. The draft EIS does not rigorously explore whether long-term supply agreements with these or other Neuse River Basin utilities could meet the town’s future needs without removing water from the Cape Fear.
• Regional water supply collaboration. Wake County has initiated a 50-year One Water planning process to address the water supply needs of its growing population, which is expected to add 250,000 residents by 2070. The draft EIS does not meaningfully assess how Fuquay-Varina’s water needs might be met within the framework of this broader regional planning effort. 
• ​Conservation and demand management. While the draft EIS includes an appendix on water conservation, it does not adequately evaluate the extent to which aggressive conservation measures, tiered rate structures, reclaimed water programs, and other demand-side strategies could reduce the magnitude of the requested transfer or eliminate the need for it altogether. We note that Fuquay-Varina currently permits lawn watering three alternating days per week – a level of outdoor water use is difficult to reconcile with a claim that an emergency interbasin transfer is necessary.  

​The Lower Cape Fear Water and Sewer Authority, the largest regional water system in Eastern North Carolina, has stated that the town has not provided any measures or alternatives to avoid detrimental impacts on the source basin’s existing water supply plans. This assessment is shared by the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, which has noted that the draft EIS itself identifies alternatives that would keep the water in the Cape Fear River. The failure to give these alternatives a fair and thorough evaluation is a critical shortcoming that must be addressed before any decision is made on this application. 
 

V. Approval Would Establish a Dangerous Precedent 

If the Commission approves this transfer as proposed, it will establish a precedent that any municipality may permanently divert millions of gallons from the Cape Fear River Basin without returning that water, so long as it can demonstrate a future supply need and a cost advantage. Other growing upstream communities could follow suit, and the cumulative effect of multiple such transfers would be devastating for downstream users. The recognized best practice for municipalities that draw water from a shared resource like the Cape Fear is to return that water to the same basin after treatment. This principle should not be abandoned to accommodate the budgetary preferences of a single applicant. 

VI. Conclusion and Request 

For the foregoing reasons, we respectfully and firmly urge the Commission to deny the town of Fuquay-Varina’s request for an Interbasin Transfer Certificate as currently proposed. We recognize that Fuquay-Varina faces a legitimate water supply challenge driven by growth, and we do not oppose the town’s right to seek solutions. However, those solutions must not come at the permanent expense of downstream communities that depend on the Cape Fear River for their survival and prosperity.

At a minimum, any approval should require that water withdrawn from the Cape Fear River Basin be returned to the Cape Fear River Basin after treatment. This is the standard that protects all communities that share this vital resource, and it is the standard that North Carolina law was designed to uphold. 

We appreciate the opportunity to submit these comments and stand ready to work with the Department of Environmental Quality, the Commission, and all stakeholders to ensure that North Carolina’s water resources are managed in a manner that is fair, sustainable, and protective of all communities. 

Sen. Michael Lee represents District 7 (New Hanover County), and Sen. Bill Rabon represents District 8 (Brunswick, Columbus and New Hanover counties) in the N.C. Senate.