Brunswick County, North Carolina is paying approximately $1.2 million to replace 45 year old filters at its Highway 211 Water Treatment Plant.
Brunswick Public Utilities are looking to complete the project before peak season begins in May or June.
The existing sand filters have been in operation since the plant opened in 1975, reported Port City Daily. These filters are only equipped to filter out turbidity and sediment. The existing filters will be replaced with the exact same product.
Aquifer-sourced water pumped at the 211 WTP contained no detectable levels of the 25 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) compounds analyzed, according to the last test conducted May 2019.
Finished water at the groundwater plant tested July, 5, 2017 contained 3.7 times the maximum concentration of 1,4 -Dioxane the U.S. recommends, however. Later in July, finished water contained no detectable amount of 1,4 -Dioxane and was lower than the .35 parts per billion (ppb) federal advisory.
The county has not tested for 1,4 – Dioxane at the 211 WTP since and traditional sand filters, including the filters the county will purchase, are not capable of filtering out 1,4 – Dioxane, reported Port City Daily.
The WTP is capable of treating about one-fifth of the county’s total water supply, reported Port City Daily. Southeastern customers are typically mostly serviced with water treated at this plant.
Brunswick County Commissioners voted to approve the $1.2 million budget amendment needed to replace the 211 WTP filters the day before EWG’s study was released.
The bulk of the county’s water supply is treated at the Northwest Water Treatment Plant. There may be some overlap between the two projects, according to Brunswick Public Utilities Director John Nichols.
“This is one of the key pieces of the 211 plant. The filters are kind of the heart and soul of that process,” said Nichols.
