“OGDEN — The Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) this week installed ‘permanent’ taps of free water at Ogden and Veterans parks.
Spigots were installed last year after revelations that drinking water sourced from the Cape Fear River contained GenX and other contaminants.
‘We’re installing more permanent equipment. The previous taps at Ogden Park were put in quickly last summer,’ Jim Flechtner, CFPUA executive director, said Tuesday morning.
The Ogden tap, near the tennis courts, was installed in July 2017, about a month after the StarNews reported the presence of the unregulated chemical GenX in drinking water sourced from the Cape Fear River.
Ogden, Murrayville, Porters Neck and areas south of Monkey Junction are the only parts of the county that receive CFPUA groundwater rather than treated river water. The treated groundwater used in the northern part of the county comes from the Richardson nano-filtration plant, which suffered its own issues last week when a mechanical failure led to high levels of fluoride being injected into the water — prompting CFPUA to issue a ‘no drinking’ ban for 11,000 customers.
Officials said they intend to keep offering the free water for the foreseeable future.”
Read the full article by Tim Buckland