Same County, Different Tap: What the $95 Million PFAS Settlement Leaves Unchanged

Before you make an offer anywhere in Brunswick County, ask to see the water bill and check whose name is printed at the top. Buyers tend to skip this step because "county water" sounds like a single system. It isn't. Across the towns most second-home buyers compare, the utility on that bill tells you where the water comes from, whether PFAS treatment is already running for that address, and whether the property was under mandatory restrictions during the drought this past summer.

The Chemours settlement in September put Brunswick County water back in the news. It doesn't change any of those three answers for a given property.

Three Systems Behind One County Name

The county runs two source plants. The Northwest Water Treatment Plant treats water drawn from the Cape Fear River. The Highway 211 Water Treatment Plant pulls groundwater from wells. A third system, Brunswick Regional–H2GO, runs separately from both of them.

The county's own notice on the Northwest project says the river plant supplies all or part of the water for every county customer and every wholesale municipal customer. It names the billing entities that will benefit from the new treatment: Brunswick County Utility Billing, Bald Head Island, Holden Beach, Oak Island and Ocean Isle Beach. Leland does not appear on that list.

Leland Took a Different Route and Got There First

Leland hasn't run its own water system for years. The town's FY2021 audit records that its water-and-sewer operations ended under an interlocal agreement with H2GO signed in March 2021. H2GO now says it provides water to all of Leland, and the Water & Sewer link on the town's resident page sends visitors to H2GO. H2GO describes itself as a self-governing public entity that neither the town nor the county governs.

H2GO's 2023 water quality report gives the switchover date. The district bought county water through May 31, 2023, and on June 1 it started serving customers from its own reverse osmosis plant. According to H2GO's FAQ, the plant draws entirely from the Lower Peedee and Black Creek aquifers and currently has 6 million gallons per day of capacity. H2GO still keeps a metered wholesale connection to the county, to be used as backup if the plant is down for more than two days.

So the town where the county's largest treatment plant stands has been on a separate, groundwater-fed reverse osmosis system for more than three years.

The Coast Drinks a Blend

In the coastal areas the comparison gets more detailed. In Southport, St. James, Oak Island and Caswell Beach, the county blends Northwest river water with groundwater from the Highway 211 plant. St. James gets mostly 211 groundwater and switches to the blend during peak season or when 211 is being serviced. Southport's merger into county utilities is complete. The county now bills Southport customers, and the city no longer runs a water or sewer system.

County materials describe the 211 plant as a 14-well groundwater facility that uses lime softening. The PFAS reverse osmosis project the county has announced is at Northwest, and our research turned up no public announcement of a matching retrofit at 211. Once the Northwest system is running, the river share of the coastal blend will be the part that has gone through it.

The Plant Is Running Late

The Northwest project combines two jobs. One adds 12 million gallons per day of conventional treatment capacity for growth. The other installs low-pressure reverse osmosis, after which the plant can treat more than 36 million gallons a day through RO. Port City Daily reported that the finished plant will have a total capacity of 48 million gallons per day and that the system is designed to remove PFAS, GenX and 1,4-dioxane from Cape Fear River water.

The schedule has slipped. In July 2025 the county sued its contractor, Oscar Renda Construction, along with the project's sureties. It withdrew the suit on August 25, 2025 and kept the right to refile. The county's update posted August 4, 2026 said the surety and contractor expected the expanded capacity to be available in August and the reverse osmosis system to be operating by the end of calendar year 2026. As of early October, we found no county or news report confirming that the added capacity has gone into service, so both milestones are still forecasts.

The cost hasn't moved, which matters for anyone budgeting a purchase. The county says the project's cost is still $167.3 million and that it may deduct liquidated damages for the contractor's delays. The same update states that no water rate increases are planned because of the delays.

What the $95 Million Does

On September 10, 2026, Brunswick County announced a $95 million settlement with Chemours, DuPont and Corteva. The county's share comes out of a $590 million group agreement that also covers the State of North Carolina, Wrightsville Beach, Lumberton, Bald Head Island, the Lower Cape Fear Water and Sewer Authority and six other counties. The announcement ended nearly nine years of litigation that started after PFAS were found in the Cape Fear River in June 2017.

The payments are spread out. The county will receive money over eight years, with slightly more than $24 million in each of the first three. The release puts the advanced treatment portion of the project at about $111.1 million. The county's attorney said the settlement shifts the cost of removing PFAS from ratepayers to the companies responsible. The county's stated next step is to "consider options for how proceeds from this litigation will be used for the benefit of the water utility system and its customers" over the coming months.

No credit, rebate or rate reduction has been announced. The settlement pays back a capital project, and the plant it pays for is the only thing that changes what comes out of a county-served tap. That plant is still on its end-of-year forecast.

Summer 2026 Showed the Split in Practice

The difference between systems was easy to see this summer. On July 10, 2026, with Brunswick County in Exceptional Drought, the county issued a Stage 3 Water Shortage Warning with mandatory restrictions. Automated irrigation was banned at first. Filling pools, hot tubs and spas was prohibited, except for narrow exceptions such as structural make-up water and initial fills scheduled with the utility. Penalties were $100 for a first offense, $400 for a second, and $600 plus disconnection for a third. They were added to the customer's next utility bill.

The restrictions applied to county customers and to the Bald Head Island, Holden Beach, Oak Island and Ocean Isle Beach systems, because those utilities buy their water from the county. They did not apply to H2GO customers, private wells, retention ponds or courses irrigated with reclaimed water. The county named St. James, Winding River, Sea Trail and Sandpiper Bay as golf courses that use reclaimed water.

The county loosened the rules gradually. On August 10 it allowed twice-weekly scheduled automated irrigation while staying at Stage 3. WWAY reported the move to Stage 2 on August 17. Coastal Review reported on September 1 that mandatory limits had been lifted that Monday and replaced with a voluntary Stage 1 alert, though the county was still in extreme drought. Stage 1 is still the posted status on the county's WaterWise page.

If you're buying a rental home with a pool and an irrigated yard, read that sequence as part of your due diligence. For about seven weeks in peak season, whether a pool could be refilled depended on the utility serving the address.

What the Rate Sheet Says

The county's FY 2026–27 budget year runs from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. The water rate schedule for that year is moderate and has no PFAS surcharge. A standard 3/4-inch residential meter pays a $16 monthly base charge, plus $4.15 per 1,000 gallons up to 4,999 gallons, $4.80 from 5,000 to 20,000 gallons, and $5.70 above that. Wholesale towns such as Oak Island and Holden Beach pay the county $5.25 per 1,000 gallons and then set their own customer rates, which aren't on the county schedule.

Sewer is where the recent increase landed. The county's residential wastewater base charge went from $39 to $45 a month for the first 3,000 gallons, and usage above that went from $6.50 to $7.50 per 1,000 gallons.

Lot buyers and anyone planning a build should also look at the capital recovery charges on the same fee schedule: $955 per residential bedroom, plus $119 per bedroom for water transmission. Because the charge is per bedroom, the bedroom count that helps a rental's income projection also raises this line in the budget.

Before You Write the Offer

1. Ask the seller for a recent water bill and note which utility issued it: Brunswick County, H2GO, Oak Island, Holden Beach or another system.
2. Match that utility to its source. H2GO uses aquifer water treated by reverse osmosis. Southport, Caswell Beach, St. James and Oak Island get the Northwest and 211 blend. Most other county-served areas get Northwest water only.
3. If the property has a pool or irrigation, find out whether the yard uses county water, a private well or reclaimed water, because that decided which drought rules applied this summer.
4. For new construction, get the per-bedroom capital recovery charges from the county's FY 2026–27 rate schedule into the budget early.
5. Check the county's Northwest Water Treatment Plant page for the date the reverse osmosis system actually starts, since end of 2026 is still a forecast.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the settlement lower county water bills? Not yet. The county says it will spend the coming months deciding how to use the money for the utility system and its customers, and it hasn't announced a rate change.

Does Oak Island get the new treatment even though the town runs its own utility? Yes. Oak Island buys its water from the county, and the county lists Oak Island among the billing entities that will benefit from the Northwest reverse osmosis system.

Are any Leland addresses on county water? H2GO says it serves all of Leland. The county's July 2026 notice treats H2GO as separate from the county system.

Whether you're comparing a Southport cottage, an Oak Island rental with a pool or a buildable lot in Leland, our team will help you check which utility serves the address, what its bills and rules look like, and how that fits your plans before you commit. Schedule a consultation with Better Beach Sales and experience Oak Island with the due diligence done.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.