The Cape Fear Public Utility Authority has submitted its final report to the Environmental Review Commission, per the requirements of House Bill 56. That legislation appropriated funds to CFPUA and the University of North Carolina Wilmington to study which treatment techniques would remove GenX and other contaminants from the public water supply.
Friday’s report to the Environmental Review Commission summarizes the action that UNCW and CFPUA have taken on water quality and it includes progress on a pilot study of water treatment technologies.
The report says granular activated carbon filter media and ion exchange resin are currently in pilot scale testing.
Researchers excluded reverse osmosis/nanofiltration because of much higher life-cycle cost and potential challenges related to disposal of the concentrate. Officials say they expect to complete the pilot study this spring.
The CFPUA report also says that GenX represents a small percentage of the 20 different per-fluorinated, unregulated compounds discovered through testing at Wilmington’s Sweeney Water Plant.