The Town of Fuquay-Varina will soon be in serious need of more water, but its plan to get that water faces sharp opposition from stakeholders in the eastern part of the state.
At a public hearing in Raleigh Tuesday evening, a dozen people from counties including New Hanover, Brunswick, and Cumberland added to the chorus of voices opposing the Town of Fuquay-Varina’s request to transfer a significant amount of water from one river basin to another, known as an interbasin transfer (IBT). Based on 2055 water demand projections, the town is proposing to withdraw 6.17 million gallons of water per day (mgd) from the Cape Fear River Basin in Lee County for its residents’ use and then discharging the treated wastewater into the Neuse River Basin in Wake County.
Fuquay-Varina’s water service area straddles both river basins and the town, population 49,000, currently withdraws 2 mgd from the Cape Fear River Basin and discharges treated wastewater into the Neuse. The town also has contracts with the City of Raleigh and Johnston and Harnett Counties to receive a total of 7.25 mgd of water to meet its current need. But the Raleigh and Johnston County contracts are set to expire and water supplies are expected to fall short by 2030 due to the town’s rapid population growth and increased development according to Maya Holcomb, a state Division of Water Resources representative who gave a presentation before the public hearing…