Triangle utility wins nearly $2M to treat PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ in water
A nearly $2 million payout will take some of the burden off OWASA customers for treating PFAS contaminants in Chapel Hill and Carrboro’s drinking water, the local utility said Thursday.
Orange Water and Sewer Authority officials announced the $1.96 million award from a multi-party settlement with international manufacturer 3M.
Another $1 million payout is possible in the future, in addition to smaller awards from lawsuits filed against other manufacturers, including Dupont, Chemguard Inc., and BASF Corp., OWASA officials said.
3M uses PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, to produce a range of consumer and industrial goods, from stain- and water-repellent fabric coatings to nonstick cookware, firefighting foams, and automotive, medical and electronic parts and equipment.
The company reached the settlement in 2023 and agreed last year to pay up to $10.3 billion over 13 years to help public utilities test for and treat PFAS in their water supply. Chairman and CEO Mike Roman has said 3M will end all PFAS manufacturing by the end of this year.
“OWASA did not create PFAS, but we now find ourselves in the business of removing it,” OWASA executive director Todd Taylor said. “OWASA’s operations and infrastructure are funded solely by the rates and fees charged for services. We are pursuing multiple strategies to help reduce the burden on the OWASA customer to keep them safe from PFAS.”
Exposure to PFAS compounds, also called “forever chemicals,” can be harmful to human health, causing higher cholesterol, lower birth weights, and kidney and testicular cancer, The News & Observer has reported. They can remain in the environment or in the human body for decades and accumulate over time.
PFAS treatment, monitoring results
In 2018, OWASA launched a PFAS monitoring program and is now using powdered activated carbon to treat its drinking water, a change “that has significantly reduced PFAS levels” in the community, according to a news release.
The not-for-profit public utility is also monitoring PFAS in its wastewater and biosolids treatment process with an eye toward reducing the level of PFAS released back into the environment from its treatment plant.
State and federal money is pending to also deal with PFAS, OWASA officials said, including $110 million in grants to local governments and utilities in the N.C. Senate’s proposed budget.
That money could allow more PFAS sampling and monitoring, and help pay to install or upgrade water treatment technologies, OWASA officials said.
OWASA’s most recent tests showed six PFAS compounds were below detectable amounts in its drinking water. Some PFAS compounds had been found in previous testing, which happens every quarter, the utility reported.
PFAS also have been detected in Cane Creek Reservoir, which is one of OWASA’s primary drinking-water resources, but higher levels were found in tributaries that feed into the reservoir. OWASA officials have said those PFAS compounds may be a result of Alamance County-generated biosolids being applied to rural land in the reservoir’s watershed.
OWASA has studied ways to remove PFAS from the watershed but found that could take decades and a much larger investment than treating water at the Jones Ferry Water Treatment Plant in Carrboro. OWASA maintains that it has never applied biosolids in the Cane Creek Reservoir watershed.
This story was originally published October 30, 2025 at 3:28 PM.
