Overview:

• Construction is to run from 2026 to 2029.

• The utility is using low interest loans and forgiven loans to blunt the cost to the customers.

• The filtering facilities will serve Fayetteville, Hope Mills, Spring Lake, Stedman, parts of Cumberland County, Fort Bragg, and Hoke County.

The Fayetteville Public Works Commission voted on Wednesday to hire Harper General Contractors for $133.7 million to build “forever chemical” filtration systems at the utility’s two water treatment plants.

The action is to comply with anti-pollution regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The filtering systems, which will be building-sized, will use granular activated carbon to extract per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances from the water supplies as the water is processed for human consumption, PWC CEO and General Manager Timothy Bryant said in a statement. Construction is to start in late summer.

“Completion of this project is projected to be by 2029, ahead of the EPA’s deadline,” Bryant said, which is 2031. “This was made possible by PWC’s proactive approach to addressing PFAS in our source water.”

An interior rendering of a building that will house granular activated carbon filtration equipment to filter PFAS from Fayetteville’s drinking water. This building is being built at the P.O. Hoffer Water Treatment Facility on the Cape Fear River. A similar one is being built at Glenville Lake Water Treatment Facility. Credit: Fayetteville Public Works Commission

PFAS substances are human-made chemicals used in numerous consumer and industrial products. They are widespread in the environment and researchers say PFAS may pose hazards to health, including risk for cancer, decreased fertility, obesity, among others.

The PWC Commissioners approved the bid from Harper General, which is based in Greenville, South Carolina, without discussion. The decision is now subject to the approval of the Fayetteville City Council and North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, PWC documents say.

The PWC received two other bids: One for $164.1 million from T.A. Loving of Goldsboro, and one for $169.6 million from M.B. Kahn Water Works of Columbia, South Carolina.

The PWC provides water service to Fayetteville, Hope Mills, and other parts of Cumberland County, and it sells its water wholesale to Spring Lake, Stedman, Hoke County, and Fort Bragg. It gets its water from two places. One of these is the Glenville Lake Water Treatment Facility on Glennville Lake between Bragg Boulevard and Murchison Road. The other is the P.O. Hoffer Water Treatment Facility on the Cape Fear River.

While PWC customers see expenses for projects such as this passed along in their rates, the utility strives to mitigate that with grants and low-interest loans. PWC voted in February 2025 to raise its water and sewer rates, effective May 1 of last year and again on May 1 this year.

Some $84 million in funding for the filtration project comes from loans and the state, spokesperson Gavin MacRoberts said. This is:

  • $58 million in loans, including $3 million awarded by the state in February.
  • $26 million in loans whose principal amounts will be forgiven.

Separate from this project, PWC has operated a smaller, $24.9 million water treatment facility at the Hoffer plant since September that captures some PFAS, but isn’t as effective as the large systems will be, the utility has said.

Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.

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Paul Woolverton is CityView's senior reporter, covering courts, local politics, and Cumberland County affairs. He joined CityView from The Fayetteville Observer, where he worked for more than 30 years.