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The CFPUA Board on Thursday approved the organization’s fiscal year 2025 (FY25) operating budget, which totals $120 million, a 6.3 percent increase over the FY24 budget.

The table below summarizes the differences between the FY24 and FY25 budgets:

Under the FY25 budget, the average residential customer’s monthly bill for combined water and sewer services will increase by $3.38, or 4.6 percent, starting with services delivered July 1, 2024.

Major drivers of the FY25 budget and rate increases include:

• Increased costs related to CFPUA’s efforts to address Chemours’ PFAS contamination in the Cape Fear River, the primary source of raw water CFPUA treats and distributes to customers. For example, CFPUA announced last year it was adjusting the operation of the granular activated carbon (GAC) filters that went online in October 2022 to treat Chemours’ PFAS. The GAC media in the filters is being exchanged more frequently to provide effective removal of particularly hard-to-treat PFAS from Chemours such as PFMOAA. This increased the annual operating costs of the filters by about $1.3 million to more than $4.6 million.
• Work to replace CFPUA’s Southside Wastewater Treatment Plant (SSWWTP). SSWWTP was constructed more than 50 years ago, in 1972. Although it continues to meet regulations, SSWWTP is reaching the end of its useful life and must be replaced. The work will replace the existing 12 million gallons per day (MGD) treatment capacity with new infrastructure and modern treatment technology and provide an additional 4 MGD capacity for future growth for a total treatment capacity of 16 MGD. Construction is estimated to cost at least $239 million and anticipated to begin in late 2024 or early 2025.