Fuquay-Varina seeks 6 million gallons daily from Cape Fear River basin

Fuquay-Varina is asking state regulators for permission to move 6.17 million gallons a day from the Cape Fear River basin to the Neuse River basin, a request that could shape how fast the town grows and how much water Wake County households ultimately pay for in the years ahead.

The town says its current wholesale supplies from Raleigh, Harnett County and Johnston County will not meet future demand. Its preferred alternative would rely entirely on the Tri-Rivers Water Treatment Plant in Sanford, still in the Cape Fear basin, while sending wastewater to treatment plants in both river basins. Fuquay-Varina says it has already partnered with Sanford to buy up to 6 million gallons a day of finished water over a 30-year planning period, and the town says the interbasin transfer process could take three to five years.

The need is tied directly to growth. Fuquay-Varina grew by 90% between 2010 and 2020, and current forecasts put its population above 65,000 by 2030. Town projections in the draft environmental impact statement show a shortfall of nearly 2 million gallons a day beginning in 2030, and Raleigh’s allocation to Fuquay-Varina is expected to hit its ceiling by then. The state’s request is based on demand projections for 2055.

That growth has triggered broad resistance across southeastern North Carolina. Cape Fear Public Utility Authority and other opponents say permanently removing 6.17 million gallons a day from the Cape Fear River could threaten downstream drinking water, worsen drought vulnerabilities, reduce dilution of contaminants and increase treatment costs. The authority says more than 20 municipalities, utilities, businesses and environmental groups have opposed the plan. At a December 2025 hearing in Raleigh, no one who spoke supported the request, and similar opposition surfaced in Fayetteville and Pittsboro.

The conflict is unfolding as river flows and contamination worries remain acute. WHQR reported that the Cape Fear River at Lock and Dam 1 fell to 711 million gallons a day in August 2024, the lowest flow reported that year. One downstream utility warned the transfer could force Drought Level One conservation measures on day one because less flow would leave less room to dilute upstream pollution and could bring millions of dollars in extra treatment costs.

State review is moving through the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission, which must certify any interbasin transfer above 2 million gallons a day. On March 31, a bipartisan group of southeastern North Carolina senators wrote to the commission opposing the request, and Senate Majority Leader Michael Lee said on April 6 that the region supports responsible growth but not at the expense of southeastern North Carolina. For Wake County, the question is no longer just where Fuquay-Varina gets its water. It is how much pressure the town’s expansion will put on the basin that supplies it.