On the menu
French chef joins Cut & Pour Page 27
April 15 - May 5, 2022 Vol. 23, No. 8
wilmingtonbiz.com
WEB EXCLUSIVE
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Roster change-up
City, county leadership changes wilmingtonbiz.com
Tour guides
Black-owned businesses draw visitors Page 5
Live wire
Building a music scene Page 10
PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER
Index Economic Indicators .............................. 3 Technology ............................................. 4 Hospitality ............................................. 5 The List ............................................7, 24 In Profile...............................................10 Real Estate ..........................................14 Business of Life.............................. 26-27
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PFAS filtering: CFPUA executive director Kenneth Waldroup stands on the edge of one of the utility’s new 26-foot deep granular activated carbon deep-bed filtration basins, which are being installed as part of a $42 million enhancement project at the Sweeney Water Treatment Plant.
CLEAN TAPS AHEAD NEW FACILITY TO QUENCH REGION’S THIRST FOR SAFER WATER BY JOHANNA F. STILL ive years after the front-page discovery of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances present in alarming amounts in the Wilmington region’s public water supply, Cape Fear Public Utility Authority will have an enhanced system in place capable of filtering them out, nearly to the point of non-detection. In June, Cape Fear Public Utili-
F
ty Authority (CFPUA) will engage its new deep-bed granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration system at the Sweeney Water Treatment Plant. By August, utility officials expect the process to be fully dialed in, capable of removing at least 90% of PFAS, the emerging contaminants in present in the raw water pulled from the Cape Fear River. The results mean all 190,000 of CFPUA’s year-round customers will soon have access to drinking water – a welcome scenario, considering the region’s decades-long exposure to the so-called “forever chemicals.” Even without the new GAC setup online, Sweeney is regarded as one of the most advanced treatment systems in the state, according to CFPUA executive director Kenneth Waldroup, who joined the utility last summer from the city of Raleigh’s public utilities department.
When he first moved to Wilmington, Waldroup said he told his wife they would soon have no need for their Brita filter. “I told her, ‘When this new facility goes online, we can toss it,’” he said. “We’re building a facility that has 3 million pounds of the same material that’s in your pitcher.” Sweeney’s eight new GAC beds are massive – a dizzying 26 feet deep. Still under construction, the facility is essentially a super-sized version of the utility’s current biological filtration process, which CFPUA officials refer to as the “little filters.” The 14 little filters, in place prior to the June 2017 GenX revelations, are currently reducing PFAS levels by about 35%, according to Carel Vandermeyden, CFPUA’s director of treatment and engineering services. Each of the new “big filters” will See WATER, page 8
