26 Aug OWASA Hosts State and Local Elected Officials for Briefing on OWASA’s PFAS Action Plan
On Friday, August 23, OWASA hosted North Carolina State Senator Graig Meyer, Representative Allen Buansi, Representative Renee Price, Carrboro Mayor Barbara Foushee, and other elected officials from Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Orange County for a briefing on OWASA’s PFAS Action Plan and the financial impacts of PFAS treatment on our community.
OWASA staff gave a presentation to elected officials on the history of PFAS in our source water at Cane Creek Reservoir, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recently established limits on PFAS compounds in drinking water, and OWASA’s PFAS action plan, which includes our pilot project to test PFAS treatment options, and plans to build a PFAS treatment facility on our Jones Ferry Road Campus.
Staff discussed the expected financial burden to ratepayers of this critical project to treat PFAS in our drinking water, including rate increases and ongoing operational expenses. The Chair of OWASA’s Board of Directors, Mel Kramer, then engaged elected officials in a robust discussion on steps community and state leaders can take to alleviate ratepayers of some of the financial burden through securing funding from various sources.
Elected officials joined OWASA staff and Board members on a tour of our Jones Ferry Road Water Treatment Plant and visited our PFAS pilot project where engineers from Black & Veatch explained the technology we are testing. Attendees also saw the footprint of our future PFAS treatment facility.
Thank you to all the elected officials, community leaders, and media who attended the briefing and showed their commitment to the health and wellbeing of our community.