On Tuesday, people weighed in on Fuquay-Varina's plan to take millions of gallons of water per day from the Cape Fear River to support ongoing growth in the town.
According to plans proposed by the town, it is seeking an Interbasin Transfer Certificate (IBT) ot take 6.17 million gallons per day (MGD) from the river for the town's use without replacing it.
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The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) is hosting a series of meetings on the environmental impacts of the plan.
According to the town, Fuquay-Varina currently purchases wholesale water from Raleigh, Harnett and Johnston counties, adding that the supply would not be able to meet future demands.
The plan, which was first proposed in 2020, has drawn stark opposition from other communities downstream, including Fayetteville and Wrightsville Beach.
Timothy Bryant, general manager for the Fayetteville Public Works Commission, spoke up at Tuesday's meeting with his concerns.
"All costs of getting water to and from the town of Fuquay-Varina should be the sole responsibility of Fuquay-Varina and not placed on downstream citizens, communities, local governments, and utilities," he said.
Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin has also been outspoken about the plans. He said that while he supports Fuquay-Varina using the river's water, he said not returning the 6 MGD would impact the city down the road.
"We are also experiencing growth and we also want to make sure we have the resources in place to meet our needs," he said.
He said the plan could lead to higher costs for the city to treat the water.
"There's a way we could support this if they could return the water to the basin, that was the biggest discrepancy," Colvin said.
The Cape Fear River is a source of drinking water for more than 500,000 people in North Carolina. The amount of water Fuquay-Varina is asking to use would be enough to fill 102,000 bathtubs every day or nearly match the reflecting pool of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
In 2015, Cary and Apex petitioned to withdraw more water from the Cape Fear River Basin. The towns wanted a 9 MGD increase, a good bit more than what Fuquay-Varina is asking for.
Similar to 2025, Fayetteville opposed the idea and the city filed a lawsuit to stop it. The two sides eventually came to an agreement in 2018, with Cary and Apex agreeing to treat and return a chunk of its wastewater into the basin so Fayetteville wouldn't lose too much water.
Several groups, including the Fayetteville Public Works Commission and the North Carolina Wildlife Commission, have already expressed concerns about Fuquay-Varina's plan.
"If approved, PWC could have to go to Drought Level One conservation measures on day one because of the reduction in water flow, even if our area is not in a drought," FPWC said on its website. "Less water also means less dilution of contaminants from upstream. This would require downstream communities to invest millions of dollars in additional water and wastewater treatment."
NCDEQ will hold a third and final meeting on the environmental impacts of the plan at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Chatham County Agriculture and Conference Center in Pittsboro.
